Obese Tonbridge jobseeker Jay Cole claims no one will employ her because of weight
Jay Cole, from Tonbridge,
claims she cannot get a job because she weighs 22 stone. Picture:
This Morning
A young Kent woman has claimed
no one will give her a job – because she weighs 22
stone.
Obese Jay Cole, from Tonbridge,
said employers decide she is not suitable for the job because of
her size.
"They think that fat people are lazy and not capable and cannot do what normal sized people can do..." – Jay Cole
The 24-year-old single mother,
of Hamble Road, told This Morning the government should introduce
new laws to stop firms discriminating against overweight
people.
Miss Cole told the ITV show:
"You would not ask somebody with a disability to not have a
disability to get a job. There should be something done so
employers do not discriminate.
"I have gone for everything.
Cleaning jobs, retail, nursery nurse. But when I go to interviews
you can see the disappointment automatically.
"They think that fat people are
lazy and not capable and cannot do what normal sized people can
do." 
Obese single mother
Jay Cole is struggling to find work. Picture: This
Morning
The mother-of-one claimed she
regularly applies for jobs, but has only gone to a dozen interviews
in five years.
Her only job has been as a
dinner lady for six-and-a-half hours a week, before leaving after
just nine months last November in a row over
time-keeping.
Miss Cole, who began claiming
income support aged 18, said she does not want to live on benefits
and allowances of £227 a week.
She has a Body Mass Index of
48.2 - double the recommended figure for a woman of just
24.
Miss Cole added: "There are
employers missing out on people who may be the right person for the
job but they are not being taken on because of their
size."
27/02/13
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