Employers Must Pay for Personal Protective Equipment
December 1, 2007
by Employment & Labor Law / Employee Benefits Group
Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP
Copyright © 2007
With few exceptions, employers are required to pay for personal protective equipment (PPE) at no cost to employees when such equipment is necessary to protect employees from job-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities, according to a new final rule issued November 15, 2007 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. “The rule does not require employers to provide PPE where none has been required before.” Instead, the rule merely stipulates that the employer must pay for required PPE, except in the following limited cases:
Safety-Toe Footware – An employer is not required to pay for non-specialty safety-toe protective footwear (including steel-toe shoes or steel-toe boots) and non-specialty prescription safety eyewear, provided that the employer permits such items to be worn off the job-site.
Metatarsal Guards – When an employer provides metatarsal guards and allows the employee, at his or her request, to use shoes or boots with built-in metatarsal protection, the employer is not required to reimburse the employee for the shoes or boots.
Not Required to Pay – An employer is not required to pay for:
- Everyday Clothing, such as long-sleeve shirts, long pants, street shoes, and normal work boots.
- Ordinary Clothing, skin creams, or other items, used solely for protection from weather, such as winter coats, jackets, gloves, parkas, rubber boots, hats, raincoats, ordinary sunglasses, and sunglasses.
- Logging boots required by OSHA regulations.
Replacements – An employer must pay for replacement PPE, except when the employee has lost or intentionally damaged the PPE. The phrase “intentionally damaged,” however, is not defined in the statute.
Employee Furnished PPE – Where an employee provides adequate protective equipment he or she owns, the employer may allow the employee to use it and is not required to reimburse the employee for that equipment
Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP is one of the country's largest law firms with more than 360 attorneys in more than 45-industry-focused areas. If you would like more information regarding this summary, please contact one of our Employment & Labor Law and Employee Benefits attorneys.
Law at Work is designed to give general information and is not intended to be a comprehensive summary or to treat exhaustively the subjects and matters covered. The information appearing herein does not constitute legal advice or opinions. Such advice and opinions are provided only upon engagement with respect to specific factual situations. Nothing contained herein shall be considered as an admission in any matter or controversy.
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