"I don't hire overweight people" - these words, captured on video by an ex-employee of a Vestavia Hills chiropractor, have been floating around Facebook the last few days, causing hurt for some and calls of fat-shaming by others.

Chris Harrison, owner of Dr. Chris Harrison Chiropractic, is standing by them. Among the services his office offers are diet and weight loss.

"I'm not going to hire an overweight person and then try to sell weight loss here. It doesn't make any sense," Harrison told AL.com Friday. "I have nothing against overweight people. If you want to be that way, I can be your friend, but I'm not going to hire you."

Stephanie Hearn, 38, said she was not told in the interview process that he didn't hire overweight people. Hearn was his only employee - she said she was hired as a receptionist; Harrison said she was hired as a Chiropractic Assistant. She began working for him about three weeks ago, and she was still in training. The job did not offer health insurance, but it did offer free chiropractic services as a benefit; she'd had a history of back pain, so she thought it might help. She became an employee as well as a patient - and that led to some of the conflict. Harrison asked Hearn if she wanted to lose weight. Hearn said yes.

Harrison required Hearn to buy a specific diet book with her own money. ("If they don't have any skin in the game, they don't appreciate it," Harrison said)

The lines between patient and employee began to blur, Hearn said. Her weight was a common conversation around the office; he offered her protein shake one day. She said that since Harrison was her boss she felt that she didn't have a choice in drinking it, and that it was a subtle comment on her eating habits. Harrison said he offered her a shake because he was already making one for himself and was trying to be polite.

"I was always on edge about everything and really uncomfortable," Hearn said. "I felt like the whole time I was there, my job depended on my weight and my lifestyle."

Though Harrison never said those exact words to her, he said that if at the end of her 90-day probationary period was over, he might have terminated her if he didn't see progress.

"If she made no attempt whatsoever after 90 days, and still had rolls of fat on her, I may have at that point in time said, 'Hey, I'm not going to hire someone who's overweight,'" Harrison said. "The reason is that being overweight is a big risk medically."

Harrison also said that he typically does not hire people who take drugs for depression, which Hearn did. When AL.com asked Hearn about this, she said she was surprised he even brought that up; it was never discussed in the office. Because she was being treated there, she disclosed the medications she was taking on her medical history form. But she had no idea he had a problem with it. Harrison also told AL.com that if at the end of the 90 days she was still taking all the same medications she was at the start, he probably wouldn't have hired her.

Hearn quit earlier this week, and took the video when she went in to return her keys. She said she quit because she couldn't take all the judgment about her weight; Harrison said she quit because she couldn't handle the pressure of the training. Hearn said she's approaching the media because she hopes it will prevent fat-shaming for others.

"I've worked around guys all my life, and this is the first encounter in my life where an employer has been on my back," Hearn said. "I told him how sensitive I was about my weight, because of my (previous) abusive marriage. It's not right of him to do that. We already allow the general public to do it, and if we start allowing employers to do it, it's just going to continue. It's not right for women or men."

AL.com attempted to speak with an employment lawyer for this story, but attempts were unsuccessful by publication time.

Harrison had seen the video, and he said he wishes he was a little less emotional. But he stands by his position.

"I didn't see anything I was very upset about. It didn't bother me. If I was acting, I would have been a little more controlled in what I said, but I'm a human too," Harrison said. "I can see that Stephanie is in distress, and I'm just praying that Jesus would send her the holy spirit."