Benefits

Health Insurance

Effective on the first of the month following employment, full-time employees may enroll the Marathon Health Plan or the Blue Choice Advantage plan offered by CareFirst which includes medical, prescription, dental and vision benefits. Queen Anne’s County is pleased to pay for 85% of the health insurance premium for full-time employees selecting individual, parent/child, self/spouse, or family coverage.

These plans provide in-network benefits which minimizes your out-of-pocket expenses by offering many services at reasonably priced deductibles, co-payments and/or coinsurances and freedom to visit in-network providers without referrals.

Free Primary Care Health Center

Queen Anne’s County is excited to partner with Marathon Health to offer primary care health services with no out-of-pocket expenses for office visits, lab services, and onsite pharmacy. Services available for full-time employees regardless of health insurance coverage; also included are employee dependents who must be on the County’s health plan. For more information, please reach out to the Department of Human Resources or view the video on Queen Anne’s County website under Human Resources, Benefits.

Vacation Leave

Full-time employees earn vacation time based on years of service as outlined below

The first five full years of service 96 hours a year (8 per month)
Between six and ten years of service 120 hours a year (10 per month)
Between eleven and twenty years of service 160 hours a year (13.36 per month)
After 20 years of service 200 hours a year (16.64 per month)

* Employees accrue vacation time in accordance with this schedule from date of hire and may begin using this time following three months of employment.

Sick Leave

Full-time employees earn ten hours of sick leave for each full calendar month of employment. Sick leave can be accumulated toward the employee’s retirement in that every 22 days of sick leave is counted as one month of service toward retirement. The County allows transfers of sick leave from other Maryland government agencies within the first year of hire.

Personal Leave

Annually in January full-time employees receive five personal leave days (40 hours) to use during the calendar year. For employees hired mid-year, the personal days are prorated.

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Holidays

Full-time employees receive twelve paid holidays annually plus an additional holiday in an election year. The recognized holidays are:

Pension Plan

Queen Anne’s County is a proud member of the Maryland State Employees’ Retirement System. Full-time employees are enrolled in the plan and contribute 7% of base salary on a pre-tax basis. Likewise, the County contributes to the retirement system. Employees are vested after ten years of service with full retirement benefits paid after the employee has a combination of years of service and age that totals 90.

The Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System (LEOPS) is offered to sworn personnel working for the Queen Anne’s County Office of the Sheriff and Eligible Emergency Services Providers. The employee contribution is 7% for the LEOPS plan.

The Correctional Officers’ Retirement System (CORS) is offered to Correctional Officer personnel at the Queen Anne’s County Department of Corrections. The employee contribution is 5% for the CORS plan.

Deferred Compensation

To enhance retirement savings, employees have the option of participating in a deferred compensation program, also called a 457 plan. A 457 plan allows employees to set aside funds on a pre-tax basis for retirement. We are happy to offer Voya as our 457 plan provider. The County also provides a match to a 401(a) to employees actively participating in the 457 plan. The match is a 5-year vesting and the amount is determined annually by the County Commissioners.

Flexible Spending Accounts

The County offers both healthcare spending accounts and dependent care spending accounts. The healthcare spending account allows you to pay for healthcare expenses not covered by your health insurance (regardless of whether or not you have the County’s health insurance) on a pre-tax basis by reducing your earnings via payroll deduction. This provides federal, state and social security tax savings to you and your family. Examples of eligible expenses include eyeglasses, contact lenses, dental services, and deductibles/co-payments.

The dependent care spending account allows you to pay for dependent care expenses from licensed providers on a pre-tax basis by reducing your earnings via payroll deduction. This provides federal, state, and social security tax savings to you and your family.

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Life Insurance

Full-time employees are provided free term life insurance coverage by the County. The coverage level is equal to one-times the employee’s annual salary and increases using the following scale based on years of service up to a maximum of $350,000:

Years of Service	Insurance Coverage
Up to the fifth-year anniversary date	1 x annual salary
From the fifth to the ninth-year anniversary date	1.25 x annual salary
From the tenth to the nineteenth anniversary date	1.50 x annual salary
From the twentienth anniversary date and on	1.75 x annual salary

Voluntary Benefits

Employees may participate in several optional benefits offered through The Standard to include short-term and long-term disability, accident insurance, and critical illness insurance.

The County also offers a Voluntary Unum Life Insurance with Long-Term Care and a Hospital Indemnity Insurance with a Critical Illness Benefit Rider.

The County offers a Voluntary Identity Management Service through Norton LifeLock. This service offers advanced monitoring, fraud resolution and 24/7 service support.

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Employee Assistance Program

Full-time employees and their immediate family members have access to an employee assistance program called Business Health Services. This is a free, confidential service which offers assistance regarding family or job concerns, legal and financial worries, alcohol or drug abuse questions or problems, emotional or stress related issues, family and dependent care needs and smoking cessation assistance.

State Employee’s Credit Union

The State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU) offers checking and savings accounts, share drafts, new and used car loans, home mortgage loans and many other services.

Employee Access

Queen Anne’s County provides easy access for employees to their paychecks through our Employee Access portal. Employees can review/print current and past paychecks, print W-2s, add, change, or delete direct deposits, review leave balances, use a paycheck simulator to estimate changes before making them and update addresses, phone numbers and emergency contact information.

Direct Deposit

Direct deposit allows for automatic deposit of paychecks. Deposits can be made into a combination of checking and savings accounts in up to four different accounts. Savings accounts may include a variety of types of accounts recognized at banks including savings clubs.

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Other Compensation

Queen Anne’s County provides other forms of compensation to eligible employees such as those listed below.

Overtime

Over-time is paid to nonexempt employees for time worked over 40 hours in a work week. Overtime shall be authorized in advance by the immediate supervisor. Employees should refer to the Employee Handbook for more detailed information. In addition, certain departments have elected to offer compensatory time as an alternative to overtime. Contact the Department of Human Resources for additional information on participating departments.

Shift Differential

Nonexempt employees scheduled to work off-hours to meet the needs of the department are eligible for shift differential as outlined in the County Shift Differential Policy.

Stand By Pay

Authorized nonexempt employees deemed qualified based on skills and abilities to respond to typical situations for the respective department may be deemed on stand-by to provide twenty-four-hour service. These employees will be compensated in accordance with the County Stand-by Duty Policy.

Call Back Time

Employees who are notified and directed to report for work during normal off-duty hours are provided a mechanism for compensation. Typically, these are essential employees and these are for emergency situations. Refer to the County’s Call Back Time Policy for details.

Career Ladder Development

Employees may be eligible for promotion through a Career Ladder Development Policy which allows them to automatically promote to the next level once certain criteria is met. This is defined in eligible job descriptions.

This information is intended as a general summary of the benefits offered by Queen Anne’s County. For more detailed information, please refer to the respective benefit plan document which governs the respective benefit. 08/25

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