Fired for anorexia? Rachael Ray Show employee files suit
A few months ago, I attended an eating disorders vigil hosted by a local psychologist during National Eating Disorders Awareness Month. The psychologist expected more than 100 people to attend the event and had contracted with a local middle school to use its parking lot. At the last minute and the school rescheduled a popular sporting event, which would require all of its parking spaces. So, a day before the event, the psychologist rushed to arrange parking and asked a nearby church for use of its lot. She explained the nature of the event and the circumstances surrounding the last minute request to the church administrator and asked for permission to use its lot for overflow parking. The administrator paused, before replying that he/she didn’t think the Bible would condone such an event and declined the request.
Of all the eating disorders, anorexia often elicits the most amount of sympathy from the general public. Part of this is because those with anorexia are, by DSM definition, thin, thus granting them membership in a social status that is highly valorized, glamorized and validated by culture at large, regardless of the emotional and physical toll the disorder demands of its victims. A lesser-discussed part of Anorexia-sympathy is due to what I call the “Maiden in Distress” factor; as the stereotype goes, people with anorexia are frail and emaciated, young, white and female. The popular perception is that these poor, young girls are weak both physically and emotionally and are in need of saving both from themselves and a culture that drives them to such depths of insanity. It’s not dissimilar to the patronizing theories on Victorian female hysteria of the nineteenth century. Despite the sympathy plied towards anorexia and those with the disorder, there still exists a shroud of stigma attached to it and eating disorders in general. A 2005 study found that nationwide surveys of public opinions taken in 1998 and again in 2003 confirmed that people with eating disorders are often viewed negatively. Those with an eating disorder are perceived as “creating” their own self-inflicted disease; people wonder why won’t people with an eating disorder just *stop* the behaviors?; or worse of all, some people don’t even believe the disorder to even be a disorder (it’s just a phase, it’s a “lifestyle” choice, better to be thin –whatever the cost — than fat).
I bring all of this up to pave the way for discussion of Aaron Ferguson, a former accountant for Racheal Ray’s TV cooking show, who recently filed a lawsuit against CBS and three employees of the show (none of which include Ray) alleging that his supervisor repeatedly exhibited “hostile behavior” and made “vile,” discriminatory and hurtful comments. Ferguson said he repeatedly complained about his supervisor’s use of discriminatory language — in his presence — regarding anorexia and people with anorexia but that his/her superiors did nothing to resolve the situation. After he complained about his treatment, Ferguson says he was fired last year. Read the full story here.
I don’t want to judge or even cast aspersion on CBS or its representatives before an official verdict is rendered, but I completely empathize with Ferguson because I, too, have been there. I’ve written before on my own workplace battles during my eating disorder at the company I had worked at for 6 years and felt personally and professionally vested in. My manager there made my work environment so hostile and toxic it severely affected my mental health and impeded my recovery efforts. I was eventually fired on some trumped up charge — a charge so flimsy the company didn’t bother to fight my bid for unemployment benefits (in Ohio, you cannot receive unemployment benefits if you violate a company rule or practice). I was not the only employee the company discriminated against for taking medical leave and so I offered to make a few phone calls on behalf of a fellow employee. At my prompting, the company was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor for violations of the Federal Medical Leave Act and was forced to comply with the law, grant medical leaves and end its discriminatory practices. It was too late for me, but I felt vindicated all the same.
Cases of eating disorders discrimination are rare, in part as my case shows, it’s quite difficult to prove the discrimination stemmed from the eating disorder. Those with an eating disorder are also often so invested in their disorder or in recovery efforts, they have neither the time nor the energy to bring or sustain a discrimination case. But such cases are uncommon more so because while up to 10 million females and 1 million males struggle with anorexia and/or bulimia, this number still forms only a relatively small fraction of the population, with many of those sufferers between the ages of 12 - 25. Binge eating disorder, however, is experienced by millions more - it’s estimated to eclipse both anorexia and bulimia combined — and because of the nature of the disorder, many of its sufferers are overweight or obese. It’s well-known that fat people regularly face discrimination in hiring, employment, housing, public spaces and other areas due to their weight, even when their weight is due to a psychological eating disorder. Because those with BED are subject to the same discrimination all fat people face, it makes BED the most widespread of all eating disorders discrimination, even if the discrimination stems from fatphobia and not necessarily the eating disorder itself.
Have you ever faced discrimination in the workplace or elsewhere for your eating disorder? Share your experiences below.
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