Your work. Your records.
Dispensing Optician Workplace Records
Dispensing opticians connect customer needs, measurements, laboratory instructions and finished-lens checks. A workplace concern about an error or sales expectation should identify the stage you handled. Separate your employment account from clinical conclusions and from the private vision information supplied to the optical business.
Call now(800) 800-5555Free initial case evaluation. Representation depends on work state and case eligibility. This guide explains record preparation; it does not determine whether a legal claim exists.
A record map for your role
What to organize first
Stage outline
List measurement, ordering, fitting and verification duties you personally handled and the handoffs between them.
Changed instruction
Record a revised product or fitting instruction and the role approving it, without private measurements.
Own feedback
Keep your evaluation or pay question with the dated response while leaving customer optical records protected.
Start with the work you actually do
Design, measure, fit, and adapt lenses and frames for client according to written optical prescription or specification. Assist client with inserting, removing, and caring for contact lenses. Assist client with selecting frames. Measure customer for size of eyeglasses and coordinate frames with facial and eye measurements and optical prescription. Prepare work order for optical laboratory containing instructions for grinding and mounting lenses in frames. Verify exactness of finished lens spectacles. Adjust frame and lens position to fit client. May shape or reshape frames. Includes contact lens opticians.
O*NET classifies this occupation as Opticians, Dispensing (29-2081.00). Its description covers a typical occupation, not every workplace or individual job. It does not establish employee status, overtime eligibility or employer misconduct.
- Measure clients' bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance, pupillary distance, and optical centers of eyes, using measuring devices.Source task 4201 · updated 08/2022
- Verify that finished lenses are ground to specifications.Source task 4202 · updated 08/2022
- Evaluate prescriptions in conjunction with clients' vocational and avocational visual requirements.Source task 4210 · updated 08/2022
- Recommend specific lenses, lens coatings, and frames to suit client needs.Source task 4207 · updated 08/2022
A reference point for your pay records
May 2025 wage estimates by state
Compare your pay records with published BLS estimates for Opticians, Dispensing (SOC 29-2081). These describe an occupation across employers. They are not a required pay rate, an overtime calculation, or evidence of discrimination or unpaid wages.
Select your work state to see its published pay range. No personal pay information is requested or sent.
The 25th and 75th percentiles mark the middle half of the estimated wage distribution; the median is its midpoint. Actual pay can differ with experience, employer, location and duties. Hourly and annual figures are shown as published, without converting one into the other.
All published state estimates for this occupation
| State | Hourly 25th | Hourly median | Hourly 75th | Annual median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $16.53 | $17.73 | $19.95 | $36,880 |
| Alaska | $19.45 | $28.01 | $36.00 | $58,250 |
| Arizona | $21.46 | $23.18 | $28.21 | $48,210 |
| Arkansas | $17.21 | $20.62 | $28.48 | $42,880 |
| Connecticut | $26.93 | $36.20 | $39.09 | $75,300 |
| Delaware | $18.20 | $22.22 | $23.70 | $46,220 |
| Florida | $21.83 | $28.30 | $32.19 | $58,850 |
| Georgia | $20.13 | $23.08 | $31.07 | $48,010 |
| Hawaii | $28.03 | $36.20 | $36.99 | $75,300 |
| Idaho | $18.24 | $21.13 | $25.01 | $43,950 |
| Indiana | $17.67 | $18.93 | $21.64 | $39,370 |
| Iowa | $18.55 | $21.39 | $22.39 | $44,480 |
| Kansas | $17.84 | $19.30 | $22.24 | $40,140 |
| Kentucky | $17.68 | $21.29 | $28.53 | $44,290 |
| Louisiana | $15.44 | $17.48 | $19.79 | $36,360 |
| Maine | $19.59 | $22.70 | $24.45 | $47,220 |
| Michigan | $18.02 | $19.80 | $22.04 | $41,180 |
| Minnesota | $20.34 | $23.09 | $27.12 | $48,020 |
| Mississippi | $14.74 | $17.63 | $20.62 | $36,680 |
| Missouri | $17.33 | $18.63 | $22.44 | $38,750 |
| Montana | $19.39 | $22.62 | $26.23 | $47,050 |
| Nebraska | $17.70 | $19.15 | $22.87 | $39,830 |
| New Hampshire | $22.46 | $24.99 | $28.54 | $51,980 |
| New Mexico | $17.33 | $18.80 | $22.79 | $39,090 |
| New York | $24.28 | $30.71 | $35.38 | $63,880 |
| North Carolina | $18.57 | $24.13 | $35.14 | $50,190 |
| North Dakota | $18.38 | $21.74 | $23.21 | $45,230 |
| Ohio | $19.53 | $24.28 | $29.05 | $50,500 |
| Oklahoma | $16.20 | $18.24 | $22.15 | $37,940 |
| Pennsylvania | $18.49 | $21.85 | $23.86 | $45,450 |
| Rhode Island | $21.97 | $22.79 | $29.22 | $47,400 |
| South Dakota | $17.62 | $20.87 | $22.21 | $43,400 |
| Tennessee | $18.09 | $23.96 | $30.34 | $49,840 |
| Texas | $16.96 | $18.61 | $23.00 | $38,720 |
| Utah | $17.72 | $20.09 | $24.84 | $41,780 |
| Vermont | $22.38 | $27.57 | $32.73 | $57,350 |
| Virginia | $21.03 | $26.84 | $30.75 | $55,820 |
| West Virginia | $16.03 | $18.33 | $22.42 | $38,120 |
| Wisconsin | $18.31 | $21.55 | $23.50 | $44,820 |
| Wyoming | $16.44 | $18.80 | $21.64 | $39,100 |
“Not published” preserves unavailable or suppressed source cells. “Above reporting limit” preserves a top-coded source value without inventing a number. A missing state estimate does not establish service eligibility. The data describe wage and salary employment; they do not measure self-employment income.
Source: BLS May 2025 state workbook · OEWS tables · BLS technical notes. Use your own schedule, pay statement and compensation terms to identify the question you want reviewed.
Trace fitting and laboratory handoffs
Describe the general product and the work you performed, such as measurements, frame selection or checking a finished item. Note who approved a change and when a laboratory response arrived. Distinguish your observation from a defect or prescription issue identified later by another professional.
Explain service and compensation expectations
Identify the target or pay terms provided to you and the period under review. Note adjustment, refitting and customer-assistance duties relevant to the issue. Do not equate a retail price with personal earnings or assume a remake establishes responsibility for the original problem.
Keep optical records confidential
Do not copy prescriptions, individual measurements, payment details, images or customer service histories into personal storage. Identify the relevant record category and custodian for review. Use your own permitted schedule, pay statements and employment feedback without attaching customer-identifying materials.
Choose your next step
Review the workplace retaliation guide, unpaid wages guide, or discrimination guide if those concerns fit your experience. A job title alone does not establish a claim.
Call now(800) 800-5555Current service-state coverage
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