Anyone who works a lot on the screen will in future be entitled to “special visual aids” to correct or prevent complaints. Companies must provide these or bear the costs.
If employees need special glasses for their work on the computer screen, the employer must provide or finance them. This was decided by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. This also includes glasses that are not only worn at work.
The present case concerned a Romanian official. He had asked his employer to cover the costs of new corrective glasses. After the latter, like the health insurance company before it, rejected the application, the employee sued the authority. The competent court in Cluj submitted the dispute to the ECJ, which now ruled in favor of the man.
The judges relied on an EU directive to protect health when working on screens. The employer must therefore pay for those visual aids “that are specifically aimed at correcting and preventing visual problems in connection with work that involves a display device”. This could include glasses with blue light filters, for example.