I love John Mackey. Like, from the tips of my jingle-skirt toes to the top of my libertarian head, I want to have ten thousand of John Mackey’s organic babies.
And yet — this hiring practice seems like nothing more than a lawsuit waiting to happen. Sizeism, thy name is health. From Jezebel:
Several readers have alerted us to a new program whereby Whole Foods will offer steeper employee discounts to people with lower BMIs. Exactly how little they have to weigh to pay only $37 per organic oyster mushroom, after the jump.
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey explains the program in a letter, reproduced below. Apparently it’s part of an initiative to reduce health care costs, which is interesting since Mackey is against the health care reforms that would actually reduce costs for all people.
Let no one suggest that Mackey is not sincere. His interest in reducing costs for all people parallels his conservative side bent on capitalizing on our obsession with health and, yes, obsessive pursuit of zero size.
Staunchly entrepreneurial Mackey decries forces that oppose libertarian goodness so central to the American Dream (“The union is like having herpes. It doesn’t kill you, but it’s unpleasant and inconvenient, and it stops a lot of people from becoming your lover.”).
Here’s his letter instituting this size-based pay reform:
What do you think, kids? Let’s do an under/over on how long it’ll take for a self-righteous, gluten-free-on-the-weekends vegan Whole Foods emp/e to bring a suit claiming size discrimination?
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