According to the Occupational Medicine Prevention Ordinance (ArbmedVV), the employer is obliged to offer occupational medicine precautions to employees at VDU workstations and to bear the costs. Among other things, a special eye test is carried out, in which the intermediate range between 55 and 100 cm is tested in addition to the near and far range, as this usually represents the distance for VDUs.
Especially older people may need glasses that are especially suitable for the viewing distance on the screen. However, if your own visual aid is generally no longer sufficient or if a visual aid is required outside the 55 - 100 cm intermediate range required for screen operation, the need for special workplace glasses can only be decided after adjusting your own visual aid. This also means that you are only entitled to a proportionate payment for workplace glasses from your employer if you already use a visual aid.
If it turns out that your own visual aid is not sufficient for working with monitors and that a special visual aid is required, this will be certified by the company doctor and the employer must bear the costs for the special workplace glasses. The level of reimbursement is usually the same as for standard spectacles and is set by the employer. As a rule, the cost of regular workstation spectacles is one hundred euros.
The varifocals often incorrectly used on the monitor are not recommendable from an ergonomic point of view, since when working on the monitor, in order to achieve optimum visual acuity with varifocals, a steep neck position is taken, which leads to muscular problems in the neck area. Since progressive glasses are often preferred in everyday life in cases of combined defective vision and these glasses are very expensive, the subsidisation of computer workstation glasses is unfortunately often used to purchase progressive glasses.
However, varifocals are only eligible for subsidies in exceptional cases, e.g. when safety relevant monitoring activities have to be carried out at a distance at the same time. For a normal screen activity, glasses that cover proximity and distance are better suited, and in the case of a combined ametropia, a change of glasses is more advantageous from an occupational medicine point of view if one has to see sharply in the distance from time to time when working at a desk.