Meeker County approves Hartford life insurance and MetLife administrators for paid leave and short-term disability
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Summary
The board approved moving the county—s basic life-insurance contract to The Hartford and selected MetLife to administer paid family medical leave and short-term disability benefits; staff said changes reduce county costs and offer administrative guarantees compared with the state program.
Meeker County commissioners approved three human-resources motions Tuesday to change the county—s employee benefits administration: the board selected The Hartford as the county—s life-insurance carrier and chose MetLife to administer the new paid family medical leave program and the county—s short-term disability offering.
Human Resources Director Michael Johnson told commissioners the moves followed a request-for-proposals process and review by the county—s benefits committee. Johnson said The Hartford—s proposal would allow employees eligible for county health insurance to enroll in life coverage without completing a health questionnaire in many cases, and would increase the child dependent life benefit (from $2,500 to $10,000 under the employee-paid dependent option). He also said switching the county-provided $20,000 basic life policy to The Hartford would save the county roughly $3,780 on that basic life portion.
On paid family medical leave, Johnson said federal- and state-level developments require Meeker County to provide a paid family medical leave benefit beginning January 2026. The county could use Minnesota—s state-administered program or contract with a private administrator; Johnson said MetLife proposed a 0.79% payroll-rate guarantee (a two-year guarantee) compared with the state—s preliminary rate of 0.88%. He told the board MetLife already administers paid family leave in other states and that MetLife—s platform and customer service appeared more mature than the state rollout. The county would pay a one-time $500 fee to the state to use an alternative private administrator.
Johnson also presented MetLife—s short-term disability proposal, which included a two-year rate guarantee, a premium reduction compared with other bidders and a change in plan design to align with paid family leave: the short-term disability waiting period would drop from 15 days to 7 days and the benefit replacement would increase from 60% to 70% of salary under MetLife—s proposal.
Board action: Commissioner Oberg moved to approve The Hartford as the county—s life-insurance carrier for 2026—2028; the board approved the motion by voice vote. Commissioners then approved MetLife as the county—s paid family medical leave claims administrator (01/01/2026 to 12/31/2027) and as the county—s short-term disability carrier for 2026—2028 by separate voice votes.
Why it matters: staff said the selected vendors offered lower or guaranteed rates for multi-year periods, simplified administration for employees and potential faster claims handling. The board will still need to negotiate cost sharing with unions for the payroll-tax component of paid family leave.
Next steps: HR will inform union representatives, finalize contracts and implement enrollment and claims processes before the January 2026 start date for paid family medical leave. Employees who leave employment may be eligible for continuation or conversion coverage under COBRA or carrier-specific conversion rules, at employee cost.
