Beginning August 1, it’s illegal to discriminate against someone based on their height or weight in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The city follows New York, San Francisco and a patchwork of other cities that have installed legal protections against that kind of bias in housing, public accommodations and hiring. But in most of the U.S., that kind of discrimination is perfectly legal. 

The job market is not always kind to people with larger bodies, said Natalie Boero, who studies weight bias at San Jose State University. 

“They’re more often denied promotions. Less often hired in the first place,” she said.

Research shows there’s a wage penalty associated with having a bigger body — particularly for women. Height bias is more likely to impact men. 

“There are obvious economic consequences of all of these things,” said Boero.

But body size is not a protected class under federal law. And Minneapolis will join a short list of just nine U.S. cities with legal protections against size discrimination, plus the states of Michigan and Washington. 

“And that’s it,” said Tigress Osborn, who heads up the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance.

She said it's a tough political environment for the handful of other states where anti-size discrimination bills are pending. 

“There’s so much pushback against DEI and people think of size acceptance as one of those issues,” said Osborn.

Plus, employers tend to push back on any new regulation that could cost them money. 

In Minneapolis, organizers hope new protections will influence over a dozen Fortune 500 Companies headquartered in the city.

Cat Polivoda owns a plus-size consignment store in Minneapolis. 

“When someone learns, like, you can get fired for being fat in most places, whether you live in a larger body or not you’re like, I don’t think that’s right. You know?” she said.

Polivoda knows size discrimination can be hard to prove, but hopes the new protections can help shift the culture in her city.