Ever since Seinfeld’s Newman brought the spotlight on obesity in the postal service, the humble postie has been recast as fat and incompetent, rather than the robust figures who once appealled to the philandering urges of housewives.
But if posties thought that dealing with the occasional snickering pedestrian was difficult enough, things are about to get a whole lot worse.
Australia Post plans to pull overweight posties off the road as their bulk slows mail delivery. Posties weighing more than 100kg will have to see a dietitian or be redeployed, if they can’t shed weight, a draft policy released by Australia Post states. Their union has warned that posties will walk off the job, if forced to prove their weight. Posties will have to sign a statutory declaration every 12 months, stating that they weigh under 100kg.
And if posties thought they could turn to discrimination lawyers for help, they had better think again:
Gadens Lawyers discrimination law partner John-Anthony Hodgens said it would be an “adventurous” lawyer who tried to argue that the company was out of line. Under anti-discrimination law, “weight” is not a protected characteristic, as sex, race or age are. “If an employee was dismissed, you might have an argument for unfair dismissal, depending on the circumstances,” Mr Hodgens said.
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