Book explores health-based discrimination

Can an employer refuse to hire someone who tests positive for nicotine or alcohol? Can an airline or movie theater require overweight customers to purchase two seats? Can a health insurance company refuse to sell policies to those most in need of medical care? Can the government condition public assistance on wellness program participation or work activity?

In Healthism: Health-Status Discrimination and the Law, Jessica L. Roberts of the University of Houston Law Center and UGA’s Elizabeth Weeks consider these and similar questions, offering readers a nuanced analysis of when and why discrimination based on health status, or “healthism,” should be allowed, and when it should not.  

Weeks, associate dean for faculty development in the UGA School of Law, will host a panel discussion on the book and health status discrimination Feb. 27 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in Classroom A (120) of Hirsch Hall. A reception will follow the discussion.