An employee with a hearing loss was prescribed hearing aids by an audiologist, and subsequently submitted an expense claim to his employer under the Policy on the Duty to Accommodate Persons with Disabilities in the Federal Public Service, so that he was reimbursed for the cost of the devices net of amounts received under his group health insurance policy. The Directorate stated:
[A]n employer must take reasonable steps to ensure that its workplaces are accessible and safe for persons with disabilities. Where the employer retains ownership of property needed by employees with disabilities and that property is used by those employees only in the workplace in the performance of their duties, no taxable benefit results.
In the situation you have presented, the employee owns the hearing aids. Although the hearing aids are used by the employee to perform the employee’s duties, it appears that the employee may also use them for everyday activities. Therefore, we consider the employee to be the primary beneficiary of the hearing aids and their reimbursement by the employer to be a benefit that has to be included in the employee's employment income under paragraph 6(1)(a).