Does An Employer Have To Pay For An Employee’s Work Gloves or Shoes?

       If you need a special type of equipment, clothes, gloves or shoes to do a specific job for your employer because of a disability, then your employer most likely is required to provide it under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  An employer is required to provide reasonable accommodations to its workers with disabilities, if it is “reasonable” to do so (usually measured by its cost relative to its benefit) and necessary for the employee to do the job.  The EEOC provides the example on its website of an employee who needs special gloves because he works in the cold and his cancer makes the regular supplied gloves inadequate.  In this type case, the EEOC states that the employer probably is required to provide the special gloves to an employee with a disability if they are only used for business and are not also required for personal use.  However, an employer would not have to pay for a non-disabled employee’s work gloves or shoes .