'Wider seats'
Jane Deville Almond, the chairwoman of the British Obesity Society, said obesity should not be classed as a disability.
She told the BBC: "I think the downside would be that if employers suddenly have to start ensuring that they've got wider seats, larger tables, more parking spaces for people who are obese, I think then we're just making the situation worse. "[It is] implying that people have no control over the condition, rather than something that can be greatly improved by changing behaviour."
Paul Callaghan, head of employment law at international law firm Taylor Wessing, said the ruling does not change UK law.
"The European Court of Justice has ruled that obesity itself is not a disability, but that the effects of it can be.
"As such, workers who suffer from, for example, joint problems, depression, or diabetes - specifically because of their size - will be protected by the European Equal Treatment Framework Directive and cannot be dismissed because of their weight.