Obese Tonbridge jobseeker Jay Cole claims no one will employ her because of weight
00:01, 28 February 2013
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.
"they think that fat people are lazy and not capable and cannot do what normal sized people can do..." – jay cole
Obese Jay Cole, from Tonbridge, said employers decide she is not suitable for the job because of her size.
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."