The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that companies must pay for glasses or contact lenses for workers who need to work using a monitor. The ruling comes after a Romanian civil servant appealed for the return of 530 euros he spent on prescription glasses.
The European judges relied on the article on the minimum safety and health requirements for work with equipment with a display based on the directive of the European Council of 29 May 1990. According to the TJUE decision published on December 22, the measure is aimed at employees who need devices “specifically intended to correct and prevent work-related visual disturbances involving a display-equipped device”, for example, a computer. The ruling emphasizes that these “special corrective devices” can be contact lenses or prescription glasses and need not be used exclusively in a professional environment.
This European directive was transposed into national law in 1993, so the CJEU decision also applies to national employment relations. Article 7 of Decree-Law 349/93 on medical surveillance states that workers at workstations with screens must undergo regular medical examinations and, if necessary, ophthalmological examinations.
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