Glasses - should by employer contribute?

[Ruth541]

I have just been prescribed glasses for VDU work only and I use a computer all day at work.
I work for a private company who say they will pay for the eye test but will not contribute towards the glasses.
Is this right?

[boxtops]

My employer will pay for basic specs if they are needed as a result of a VDU workstation assessment.

[Buenchico]

Quote:
"Employers only have to pay for spectacles if special ones (for example, prescribed for the distance at which the screen is viewed) are needed and normal ones cannot be used.".

Source:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg36.pdf

Chris

[woofgang]

What does your t and C say?

[ABerrant]

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 992 implement an EC Directive and came into effect from January 1999 (some small changes were made in 2002). The Regulations apply where staff habitually use VDUs as a significant part of their normal work and who can ask their employer to provide and pay for an eye and eyesight test by an optometrist or doctor. There is also an entitlement to further tests at regular intervals; the optometrist doing the first test can recommend when the next should be. Employers only have to pay for spectacles if special ones (for example, prescribed for the distance at which the screen is viewed) are needed and normal ones cannot be used.

Other people, who use VDUs only occasionally, are not covered by the eye test requirements in the Regulations.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/faq.htm

[york310]

If you spend the majority of your working day on a VDU then your employer must pay for vision screening which for the majority is an eye examination.

They only legally need to contriute towards specs if the prescription is solely set for the VDU working distance. This actually restricts it to only a few as it probably only counts for those 50 an over. Younger people could use the specs for anything else such as reading. Those ove 50 may require varifocals which are not VDU specific.

Younger people with small prescriptions which may provide more comfort with prolonged computer use may be advised they could use them for other concentrative tasks such as TV, reading or even driving therefor they are not VDU specific.