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Unions Sue to Force OSHA to Issue Regulation Requiring Employers to Pay for Most Personal Protective Equipment

OSHA regulations require that employees have personal protective equipment (PPE) necessary to make their employment safe. However, often those regulations do not say who must pay for the PPE.

In 1999, OSHA issued a proposed rule that would require employers to pay for all PPE except for safety shoes, prescription safety glasses and logging boots. The proposed rule would provide that the employees and employers could negotiate who will pay for the excluded items. In 2004, OSHA announced that it needed more information in order to determine whether "tools of the trade" of the type which employees carry with them from job to job should be included in the exceptions to the employer’s obligation to pay for PPE. We are still waiting for OSHA to issue its final rule on the subject.

The AFL-CIO and the United Food and Commercial Workers have become impatient. They have filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to force OSHA to promptly issue a final rule. The Unions allege that the delay in issuing the final rule is "unreasonable."

This lawsuit could force OSHA to issue a final rule in the near future. And, given the recent changes in the makeup of the Congress, it is likely OSHA will quickly implement that final rule. So, watch the news media for announcements of the final rule and take prompt action to make sure you are complying with it.

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