diff --git a/e2e/dialog-horizontal-overflow.spec.ts b/e2e/dialog-horizontal-overflow.spec.ts
index 07b198b23..72d49564f 100644
--- a/e2e/dialog-horizontal-overflow.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/dialog-horizontal-overflow.spec.ts
@@ -482,20 +482,24 @@ test.describe("lab-scan review dialog uses the width it is given", () => {
 
       // Value, unit and date share a line when the fields have room for three
       // columns, and the date wraps under them when they do not.
+      // "Beside" means the same grid row: to the right of the value and
+      // starting above the value's bottom edge. Comparing the tops alone was
+      // too strict, because a field label that wraps onto a second line (it
+      // depends on the runner's font metrics) moves that field's input down
+      // by one line while it stays in the same row.
+      const besideValue = (field: { x: number; y: number }, name: string) => {
+        expect(field.x, `${label}: ${name} right of value`).toBeGreaterThan(
+          value.x,
+        );
+        expect(field.y, `${label}: ${name} in the value's row`).toBeLessThan(
+          value.y + value.height,
+        );
+      };
       if (vp.threeAcross) {
-        expect(
-          Math.abs(unit.y - value.y),
-          `${label}: unit beside value`,
-        ).toBeLessThan(8);
-        expect(
-          Math.abs(date.y - value.y),
-          `${label}: date beside value`,
-        ).toBeLessThan(8);
+        besideValue(unit, "unit");
+        besideValue(date, "date");
       } else {
-        expect(
-          Math.abs(unit.y - value.y),
-          `${label}: unit beside value`,
-        ).toBeLessThan(8);
+        besideValue(unit, "unit");
         expect(date.y, `${label}: date wraps`).toBeGreaterThan(
           value.y + value.height - 1,
         );