As of November 17, 2023, is the employer required to provide contact lenses to employees?

The amendment introduced by the Regulation of the Minister of Family and Social Policy of October 18, 2023, amending the Regulation on occupational safety and health at work in workplaces equipped with screen monitors ( Dz.U. 2023 item 2367), changes the rules for subsidizing the purchase of contact lenses by the employer.
According to the amended regulations, the employer is obliged to provide employees not only with glasses, but also with sight-correcting contact lenses, in accordance with a doctor’s recommendation.

According to the amended § 8(2) of the Regulation on occupational safety and health at work at workplaces equipped with screen monitors, the employer is obliged to provide employees with glasses or contact lenses correcting vision, as recommended by a doctor, if the results of ophthalmological examinations conducted as part of preventive health care show the need for their use while working at a screen monitor.

So, the employer should establish the rules on which this “provision” will be made, for example, by setting the rules for subsidizing the purchase of these glasses or contact lenses for employees who require their use for work with a screen monitor.