If the government agency pays for the uniforms they must remain the property of the agency. That is, the agency issues the uniforms to its employees and they must be returned upon the employee’s separation from service.

In the alternative, the government agency may require its employees to pay for the uniform. In this case, the agency may advance the uniform to the employee and make voluntary deductions from their payroll to cover the costs. Once the uniform is paid for by the employee, the uniform is the property of the employee and remains their property upon the employee’s separation from service.

In some cases, the government agency may do a combination of the agency paying for part of the uniform and the employee paying for part of the uniform. For example, an agency may require employees to wear a shirt with the agency logo on it with a pair of navy pants. The agency may pay for and issue the shirts with the logo to employees and require the employees to purchase their own pants. In this case, upon separation of service, the employee must return the shirt with the agency logo on it back to the agency but the pants remain the property of the employee. This will prevent a person who is no longer employed by the agency from wearing the shirt with the agency logo on it.

Please see the LLA’s Legal Minute video on Uniforms which can be found here