The Foundation for the Defense of the Citizen Against State Abuses (FACIAS) has submitted to the Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, a request to initiate the amendment of national legislation, so that it would oblige Romanian employers to pay for eyeglasses for employees, who by the nature of their work are exposed to viewing screen equipment.
Specifically, it is a question of urgently amending Government Decision No 1028/2006 in the terms specified in Article 9 of Council Directive 90/270/EEC of 29 May 1990, which requires the employer to provide the workers concerned with special corrective equipment. The obligation may be fulfilled either by the employer directly providing the appliance or by reimbursing the necessary expenses incurred by the worker, but not by paying a general wage supplement to the worker.
Moreover, the Court of Justice of the EU recently ruled in the case of a Romanian complainant, an employee of the General Inspectorate for Immigration in Cluj, and issued a preliminary ruling that he should be reimbursed by his employer for the corrective lenses recommended by his doctor, if a specialist examination shows that he has lost his visual acuity as a result of working conditions.
FACIAS has initiated this action in support of Romanians who have the right to be assured adequate working conditions, in the context in which we are members of the European Union, and this facility would represent nothing other than normality in a civilized country.
FACIAS considers that it has solid legal arguments to follow whether our governments will harmonise the labour protection legislation with the European directives and will continue this approach if this first request sent to the Prime Minister does not have the expected result.