NORTH PORT, FL - Race, gender and religion are all forms of discrimination that are against the law in the workplace. But not your weight. Now a North Port woman is fighting for reform after it happened to her.
Jill Feyka recently took a new job as a cardiac rehab technician at the Charlotte Regional Medical Center. She says soon after, her weight became an issue for some. "They refused to order a larger size shirt for me. My supervisor later pulled me aside and told me I needed to lose weight and that I was fat."
She says she has been diagnosed with thyroid disease and recently went through an open heart surgery for a birth defect. She says nowhere in her official job description does it mention weight. However, she says her bosses were constantly weighing in on her size. "It never stopped. It was always a dig here and a dig there...a threat with losing my position if I didn't lose weight and stay on track. It hurts because I love taking care of people. I love helping people."
She says she asked her supervisor to stop. It was the same supervisor who hired her just weeks earlier. "It made me feel pretty bad. I came home crying a lot."
She says complaints to human resources and management went nowhere. She resigned after just three weeks. "What do you do when your supervisor is threatening you and making remarks and comments that are derogatory and has nothing to do with your job performance?"
According to recent studies by Yale University, perceived discrimination against the overweight is on the rise. "Most of those cases are women. There is nothing being done to bring awareness."
While there are laws to protect workers from some forms of discrimination, weight alone is not one of them. Feyka says she's writing local politicians and starting a campaign to bring attention to the issue. "I've done some research on it and I started a blog. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback and a lot of negative feedback. Clearly there is a line of ignorance in society judging someone based on their image or their size."
Feyka says she's trying to make something positive out of something negative...trying to help those who can't afford to get out of similar situations. "People are afraid to talk about it. A lot of people are sitting in jobs where they feel they can't speak out. Nobody should have to tolerate that."
Feyka says she's decided not to take legal action as it might take away from her fight for reform. She doesn't want people to think she's doing it for money.
After two days of trying to contact hospital officials, a representative told ABC 7 that they can't comment on individual employee issues.
