Personnel committee reviews plan to reshape short- and long-term disability, seeks carrier and handbook clarifications

Charles Town's personnel committee reviewed a proposed redesign of the city's short-term and long-term disability benefits on Oct. 15, including a rise in the short-term weekly benefit cap and changes to how short-term disability interacts with FMLA and COBRA.

Presenter Jared (S2) told the committee that Sun Life submitted new plan designs and recommended that short-term disability be limited to about 12 weeks and run concurrent with FMLA. "What I am proposing, effective 11/01, is to increase the short term disability maximum weekly benefit from 900 to $1,200 a week," Jared said, adding that the change would cover more employees whose 60% benefit previously exceeded the $900 cap. He said the design would then transition into long-term disability at the end of the short-term period, with long-term benefits set at 60% up to $6,000 per month.

The proposal includes carrier and premium changes. Jared reported a lower short-term premium under the new design and gave an illustrative monthly figure of about $940; he also said the long-term rate would be slightly lower under the new quote. "So we're bettering the benefit, and we're lowering the premium," he said, noting annual savings the committee estimated at roughly $5,600.

Committee members pressed how banked sick time and paid time off would interact with the new sequencing. Several members asked whether employees could use PTO or sick leave to preserve full salary for the initial 12 weeks and then move to short-term or COBRA. Jared said carriers must be told how the city intends to handle PTO and sick time so carriers can price and accept claims correctly: "You want short term disability to run concurrent with FMLA, so that in the event that somebody goes out on disability after 12 weeks under FMLA, you need to give them notice that at that point in time you don't have to hold their job position anymore, and you offer COBRA coverage," he said.

The committee discussed a current police officer who has been off more than 12 weeks as a concrete example. Jared said the officer, currently on claims with the existing carrier (Lincoln Financial), would be transitioned according to the new protocol when the city moves to Sun Life: once PTO is exhausted and a claim is filed, short-term would apply and carriers would place the employee on waiver-of-premium disability; at that point the city would stop paying the employee's premiums and the employee would be offered COBRA for medical, dental and vision and would pay the COBRA premium if they elected it.

Members raised concerns about fairness and the value of banked leave. Some said employees who conserved sick time for retirement or because they came to work could feel disadvantaged if the available paid period drops to 12 weeks. Jared acknowledged the trade-off but emphasized legal constraints: FMLA and COBRA are federal requirements, and improperly extending active-group coverage beyond FMLA timelines could jeopardize the city's plan renewals or lead carriers to deny claims.

Next steps included clarifying handbook language and confirming contract verbiage with carriers and PEIA to ensure the intended sequencing (PTO/sick time, then short-term, then long-term) is honored by the insurers. The committee concluded the discussion by agreeing to move into an executive session to discuss personnel matters and to bring in the mayor, the police chief, the consultants and "Cindy." The transcript records no formal roll-call vote on the insurance changes; staff was directed to return with clarified contract language and handbook wording before implementing the Nov. 1 effective date.