Sticking with Uniform Laws

Popular clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch has agreed to pay $2.2 million to its California employees for violating the state’s prohibition on requiring employees to purchase their own uniforms.

The settlement is particularly applicable to California landscape companies and retailers that require employees to purchase company shirts.

In “The Golden State,” if employers require employees to wear certain clothing and accessories of a distinctive color, special pattern (such as a polo shirt with a logo) or even street clothes of a certain color, the clothing is considered a uniform – and the employer generally must pay for the uniform and finance its cleaning.

For employees who must be paid overtime in lieu of cleaning an employee’s uniform, the employer may substitute an hour’s pay at the state minimum wage rate of $6.75 per hour (assuming that is a reasonable estimate of the time required to clean it). However, if the employees are exempt from overtime under state law, and the uniform is made of fabric requiring minimal care (machine wash and tumble or drip dry), the employer is not required to clean it. For more information on California-specific regulations, click here.

For the rest of the nation, the rules are simpler under federal law. An employer may not require employees to purchase or maintain uniforms if doing so would reduce their wages below the federal minimum wage. It necessary, reimbursement must be made by the next regular payday. However, a uniform is defined much more narrowly to include clothing worn as part of the job that is not suitable for use on other occasions or that is associated with a particular employer, such as a distinctive color scheme or logo. The U.S. Department of Labor does not consider ordinary street clothes of a particular color a uniform.

And with respect to uniform cleaning, if dry cleaning or other professional laundering is required and an employee earns at or near the minimum wage, the employer must clean the uniform or pay the employee for one hour of additional wages at the minimum wage ($5.15) each week, provided cleaning costs do not exceed that amount.