Important Corrections Made to Employee Insurance Premiums Process Following Inspector General’s Report

Dear MCPS Community,

For many years district practice concerning health insurance premiums for 10-month employees was to prorate their premium payments over 12 months to ensure a full 12-months of coverage. The Montgomery County Inspector General, in a report released today, has determined that this practice incorrectly held monies from 10-month employees who retire or resign from MCPS before a full 12-month period.

System leadership in December of 2021 immediately worked to make changes. The following steps were taken to ensure that any employee retiring in June of 2022 would not be impacted.

Immediate responsive measures:

In January of 2022, and in collaboration with our three employee associations, any employee retiring on June 30 of this year would be offered extended coverage until September 30 or receive a refund.
From February through May, employees were informed of this change in multiple communications, including Zoom information sessions, emails, retirement correspondences and via our ePaystub notification system.

Next steps:

As part of the new operating budget, the district will implement a state-of-the-art human capital management software system to better manage the payment of benefit premiums.
Further measures to address the impact of this practice to individuals who previously retired or resigned from MCPS prior to this year will be examined in the very near future.

School system leadership and the Inspector General’s office have collaborated on these measures to benefit MCPS employees by changing an unintentionally unfair practice. The school district is pleased to make these improvements so that our valued staff receives the benefits they have earned at the expected cost.

Montgomery County Public Schools

Email us: ASKMCPS@mcpsmd.org