‘It’s Not Over Till It’s Over’ : 249-Pound Woman Takes On Xerox and Wins

A woman who spent 11 years single-handedly battling the Xerox Corp. after it refused to hire her because she weighed 249 pounds won her case today in the state’s highest court.

The Court of Appeals ruled 5 to 1 that the company had no right to deny Catherine McDermott a job as a systems analyst in 1974 on the ground that a company physician diagnosed her overweight condition as “gross obesity.”

“I couldn’t believe I would have lost, but it’s like Yogi Berra--it’s not over until it’s over, you know?” said McDermott, 67, of Staten Island.

She had pursued her case through the courts without the aid of a lawyer.

In 1974, McDermott was offered a job as a systems analyst in Xerox’s Rochester office, if she passed a physical examination. At the time, she was 56, 5 feet 6, and weighed 249 pounds.

On Sept. 3, 1974, she was told that she had not passed the physical and was later informed that she failed solely because of her obesity, according to court records. The company’s physician had concluded that her obesity posed a risk to short- and long-term disability and life insurance programs.

McDermott argued that she had always been overweight but that it had not prevented her from performing any task or function, including rearing five children.

She said she didn’t know what amount of money she will receive as a result of today’s ruling.

As the case climbed its way up the courts, she said the company had made a series of escalating settlement offers, ranging from $1,000 to $100,000.