Manager Commenting About Employee's Physical Appearance During Job Evaluations

[eerelations]

...I'm sorry, but no - Eerelations did not explain that at all...

Guess you didn't read my last post. Read it now, and then please go away. (And BTW it's eerelations not Eerelations.)

[Novice]

Guess you didn't read my last post. Read it now, and then please go away. (And BTW it's eerelations not Eerelations.)

No, eerelations, your last post and mine must have crossed in the writing, because it was not there when I began my last message. Your last post was very helpful, thank you.

[PandorasBox]

It's rude, but not illegal.

Illegal would be commenting on someones breasts (nice, what are you, a C cup?), the bulge in their pants (my my, what a big...unit you have), how good their butt looks.....

These would be legal also: "your top is too low cut and revealing", "your skirt is too short, please start wearing something that comes to your knees or lower"; "your pants are too tight, please find more appropriate clothing for work....".

[cbg]

For the record, I cannot think of anything that would be illegal if said during a performance review that would not be illegal elsewhere in the workplace. Either it is or it isn't.

[eerelations]

It's rude, but not illegal.

I don't know about rude - my take on the OP's supervisor's comments was that she (the supervisor) was expressing concern about the OP's apparent emotional and physical decline. (Certainly if one of my direct reports started looking unhappy and too thin, I might be inclined to take her aside and mention what I was seeing, just to see if I could help in any way, or direct her to some help.) And I was rude to the OP mainly because I was appalled at her wanting to sue her boss for being concerned.

[Novice]

One cannot prove the intent of the manager in making the comments, but they did not come across in a manner that would infer concern.

But just for fun discussion, since this thread seems to be living on - what if the comment made was that the employee was too heavy? "Your work is great, but you're too fat."

I suspect that the answer remains the same - rude, but not illegal, but the group consensus here seems to jump to the side of the manager, and assume that the manager is expressing concern for the employee.

[Beth3]

Rude and offensive but not illegal. As to why we "jumped on the side of the manager," it's because we can't see any reason why the manager would make those comments other than his concern for the well being of the employee.

I think we've exhausted this topic.