The ruling indicates that the reimbursement of glasses should be treated individually, not as a collective dispute.

It resolves the appeal(nº 583/2024) filed by a Union of Municipal Employees on the ruling of November 10, 2023, issued by the Social Court No. 14 of Seville (orders 283/23), which requested reimbursement of the cost of glasses for municipal employees who use display screens in their work. The lawsuit regarding a collective dispute was filed against a City Council and the Work Staff Committee.

The union argued that workers who use display screens have the right to reimbursement of the cost of glasses, according to European and Spanish regulations on occupational health and safety. However, the Social Chamber determined that this type of claims cannot be treated as a collective dispute, but must be addressed individually.

In instance, the Court dismissed the lawsuit that was appealed by the unions denouncing violation of article 153 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), art. 31 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as well as the provisions of Directive 90/279/EEC and what is regulated in art. 4.3 of RD 488/1997

The Room of TSJ of Andalusia proceeds to examine ex officio the inadequacy of the procedure and argues as follows:

1. That the procedure used by the union to raise a collective dispute is not appropriate. Requesting a refund for glasses depends on the personal circumstances of each worker, such as medical necessity and use of the glasses for specific tasks related to screen work.
2. An individual medical examination is necessary prior to starting work to determine whether a worker is entitled to reimbursement of the cost of glasses, which demonstrates that vision problems are directly related to work and not to other general health conditions.
3. To address these types of claims, it is necessary to use procedures that allow the circumstances of each case to be assessed separately. Consequently, a collective conflict is not the appropriate way because it does not allow this individual evaluation, in addition, the element of homogeneity characteristic of the collective conflict is missing.

The TSJ of Andalusia dismisses the appeal, upholds ex officio the objection of inadequacy of the procedure and confirms the lower court decision to absolve the Seville City Council and its Works Committee of any responsibility in this matter. However, the ruling allows workers to file individual claims for reimbursement of glasses, as long as they follow the appropriate judicial procedure.

The Court has determined that, in jobs that require the use of display screens, companies are obliged to provide prescription glasses or reimburse their cost. At the same time, in accordance with art. 9.1 of the Directive, the measures adopted pursuant to this article must not entail additional financial burdens for workers. Furthermore, it is essential to verify that vision disorders are related to working conditions, and it is the jurisdictional body that is responsible for evaluating whether prescription glasses correct vision problems linked to work, and not general visual disorders that are not related to working conditions.