The employer pays for screen work glasses when occupational health screening shows that a special visual aid is needed for screen work and the employee's normal glasses are not suitable for it. The legal basis is Annex Part 4 paragraph 2 number 1 of the German ArbMedVV. Everyday glasses that also work at the screen are not covered.
Screen work glasses (in German Bildschirmbrille or Bildschirmarbeitsplatzbrille) are glasses whose lenses are matched to the viewing distances at a screen workstation: monitor, keyboard and documents. They are work equipment, not a health perk. The rules on who pays and when follow directly from that.
Legal basis: ArbMedVV and ArbStättV
The obligation is set out in Annex Part 4 paragraph 2 number 1 of the ArbMedVV: the employer must provide employees working at display screens with special visual aids to the extent required if offered screening shows that special visual aids are necessary and normal visual aids are not suitable.
The same provision requires offered screening to include an appropriate examination of the eyes and eyesight. If this shows that an ophthalmological examination is needed, the employer must make it possible. What "appropriate" means is described in occupational medicine rule AMR 14.1: medical history, near and distance visual acuity taking the workstation's viewing distances into account, eye alignment, visual field, colour vision and medical advice.
The requirements for the workstation itself are set by Annex no. 6 of the Workplaces Ordinance: screen, character size, glare, distance. What that looks like in practice is covered in Setting up a screen workstation correctly. A badly positioned monitor is often the real cause of eye strain that then gets treated as a glasses problem.
The Court of Justice of the European Union clarified the obligation in its judgment of 22.12.2022 (C-392/21): special visual aids are glasses that specifically correct or prevent visual problems related to screen work. Screen work does not have to have caused the problem, and the glasses do not have to be worn exclusively at work. The employer fulfils the obligation by providing or reimbursing the glasses, a general salary supplement is not sufficient.
Normal glasses vs. screen work glasses: who pays for what
Normal glasses correct vision for everyday life and distance, screen work glasses for the intermediate distance to the monitor and the near distance to keyboard and paper. That difference decides who pays: only if the normal glasses are not suitable at the screen does a claim against the employer arise.
A typical case: progressive lenses force the wearer to tilt the head back to look at the monitor, because the near zone sits at the bottom of the lens. Reading glasses are set for roughly book distance and blur the monitor. In both cases the occupational physician can find that the existing glasses are not suitable for screen work.
| Situation | Special visual aid under ArbMedVV? | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Normal glasses also work at the screen | No | Employee, health insurer where its rules apply |
| Screening finds normal glasses unsuitable at the screen | Yes | Employer, simple functional version |
| Screen work glasses with optional extras (brand frame, add-ons) | Yes, but only to the extent required | Employer up to the necessary version, rest the employee |
| Eye test at the optician only, no screening | Not established | Employee |
| Glasses also worn privately, need medically established | Yes (CJEU C-392/21) | Employer to the extent required |
Process: from screening to glasses
The route to screen work glasses always runs through offered screening. Offered screening is the occupational health screening that the employer must offer all employees working at display screens under section 5 ArbMedVV. Participation is voluntary, but the offer is mandatory, even if someone declined an earlier one.
In practice it takes six steps:
- Offer screening. The employer offers screening in writing, before screen work starts and afterwards within the AMR 2.1 intervals.
- Examine the eyes. The occupational physician examines eyes and eyesight under AMR 14.1, based on the actual viewing distances at the workstation.
- Involve an ophthalmologist. If the examination is not sufficient, the employer makes an ophthalmological examination possible.
- Certify the need. The occupational physician or ophthalmologist records that a special visual aid is needed and normal glasses are not suitable.
- Procure the glasses. The employer provides the screen work glasses or reimburses the necessary costs.
- Document. The offer, certificate and cost coverage belong in the occupational safety documentation, without medical findings.
The examination is usually carried out by the occupational physician. They are bound by medical confidentiality: the employer learns that screening took place and that a special visual aid is needed, but not the diagnosis. The order matters. Anyone who buys the glasses first and asks for reimbursement later will find it hard to prove the need.
Screening intervals under AMR 2.1
Under AMR 2.1, screening for screen work must first be offered within 3 months before the work starts, the second no later than 12 months after the first, and each further one no later than 36 months after the previous one. The occupational physician can set shorter intervals, but not longer ones.
| Occasion | Deadline | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| First offer | within 3 months before screen work starts | section 5 (1) ArbMedVV, AMR 2.1 |
| Second offer | no later than 12 months after the first screening | AMR 2.1 |
| Each further offer | no later than 36 months after the previous screening | AMR 2.1 |
| Complaints that may be work-related | without delay once the employer learns of them | section 5 (2) ArbMedVV |
What this means organisationally is shown by a calculation for three office sizes in a steady state. It assumes all employees work at screens and about one tenth are newly hired each year. Each new hire triggers two offers in the first year, the existing workforce about one third per year because of the 36-month cycle.
| Business | New hires per year | Offers from new hires | Follow-up offers existing staff | Total offers per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 employees | 1 | 2 | 4 | about 6 |
| 45 employees | 5 | 10 | 15 | about 25 |
| 150 employees | 15 | 30 | 50 | about 80 |
At 150 employees that is on average more than six offers a month. Without a deadline list this quickly slips. Similar deadline logic applies to safety briefings, and the Briefing deadline calculator works them out for your business.
Costs: what the employer bears and where the employee's share begins
The employer bears the cost of screen work glasses to the extent required, meaning lenses with the medically established correction and a simple, functional frame. Extra costs for optional features are borne by the employee. Neither the ArbMedVV nor the CJEU case law sets a fixed upper limit.
Many businesses therefore work with an internal rule: costs covered up to an amount an optician confirms for the medically necessary version, or ordering through a contracted optician. Both are permissible as long as the amount actually covers the necessary glasses. A flat allowance below that does not fulfil the obligation.
An example with assumed amounts shows the split. The optician quotes 180 euros for lenses and frame in the necessary version. The employee chooses a brand frame and an additional coating, and the invoice comes to 320 euros. The employer pays 180 euros, the employee 140 euros. Had she chosen the simple version, the glasses would have cost her nothing.
Where there is a works council, it has a co-determination right on health protection rules under section 87 (1) no. 7 BetrVG, insofar as the employer has room for discretion, for example on the process or the choice of optician. A short works agreement or policy covering process, cost limit and contact person saves case-by-case discussions.
Tax and social security
If the employer covers the reasonable cost of screen work glasses, this is not taxable wages under R 19.3 (2) no. 2 of the German Wage Tax Guidelines. The condition is that a qualified person, meaning the occupational physician or an ophthalmologist, considers the special visual aid necessary after examining the eyes and eyesight.
Social security generally follows the wage tax treatment, so no contributions arise. If the medical finding is missing, for example because there is only an eye test at the optician, an allowance is treated as normal taxable wages. The employee's own share for optional extras cannot be made tax-free through the employer. Payroll or a tax adviser is responsible for individual questions.
What an office actually needs to do
For most office businesses the gap is not the glasses but the offer that comes first. Anyone who does not offer screening in a verifiable way breaches section 5 ArbMedVV, even if nobody ever asked for glasses. During an inspection by the accident insurer, this is easy to check.
Three documents are usually enough: a list of all screen workers with the date of the last offer, the occupational physician's screening certificates and a short rule on cost coverage. Whether your business meets the other basic obligations is shown by the Obligations quick check in a few minutes.
Safety Club takes this on for office and administrative businesses as part of its support: an occupational safety specialist on site plus digital, audit-proof documentation in which screening offers and deadlines are tracked.
This article is general guidance and does not replace legal, tax or occupational medical advice on individual cases. The current versions of ArbMedVV, ArbStättV, the occupational medicine rules and the Wage Tax Guidelines apply, as does the interpretation of your accident insurer.
