Two Countries, Two Approaches: How Moldova and Romania Handle Employer-Paid Screen Glasses

Employees who spend their working days in front of monitors have a legal right to company-funded eye care in both Moldova and Romania — but the two neighbouring states have set up markedly different machinery for delivering it. Romania caps reimbursement for corrective lenses at 500 lei per person, while Moldova requires employers to cover the full cost of any vision aids their staff need.

The comparison matters for anyone managing workplace health obligations across the region, because the underlying principle is the same in both jurisdictions: screen-related eye care is an employer's responsibility, not a private expense for the worker.

Moldova: full coverage under Decision No. 819/2016

In Moldova, the entitlement rests on Government Decision No. 819/2016, in force since 1 January 2017. It gives staff who regularly work at screens the right to eye examinations paid for by their employer, and it builds a structured occupational-health process around that right.

Under the rules, employers must offer an eye test before an employee begins screen work at all. Further checks are required at regular intervals, and whenever a member of staff reports vision problems. If those examinations reveal a visual impairment — or if the worker complains of eye strain — the employer must supply the necessary corrective devices and absorb the entire cost. Companies can meet the obligation either by providing suitable vision aids directly or by reimbursing employees for what they spent on them.

Romania: Decision No. 1.028/2006 and a 500-lei ceiling

Romania's equivalent framework is Government Decision No. 1.028/2006, which governs health protection at monitor workstations. It obliges employers to provide regular eye examinations and any vision aids that are needed, at no cost to the employee.

Detailed implementing rules issued in 2025 put that protection into practice. They establish a formal reimbursement procedure aimed at staff of the public institutions concerned, and they fix a firm financial limit: reimbursement for vision aids is capped at 500 lei per person.

What it means for workplace health management

Read side by side, the two sets of rules make the same point — glasses for screen work are a matter of injury prevention and part of what employers owe their staff, not something workers should sort out on their own.

For companies, that translates into fixed procedures within occupational health management. Scheduling eye examinations on time is one part of it. Just as important is following the correct route for reimbursement and procurement in whichever country the staff are based.