A judge ruled this week in favor of the Alabama Education Association, which had previously sued the Public Education Employees Health Insurance Plan board after it voted last year to increase insurance premiums.

The AEA alleged the PEEHIP board violated the Alabama Open Meetings Act when it voted on the increases. Those increases occurred just four days after the Alabama Legislature announced it would include a 4 percent raise to teachers and support staff making less than $75,000 annually in its 2016-2017 budget. It was the first significant raise in seven years.

Montgomery County Judge Johnny Hardwick issued his ruling Monday.

“For many of our members, the PEEHIP board’s actions completely took away the legislative pay raise that was so richly deserved. For everyone else, it took a large portion of it,” said AEA Executive Director Dr. Brenda Pike. “We hope that the PEEHIP board members will take this opportunity to reflect on their action and will take appropriate steps to ensure that the increases will not go into effect, in accordance with the Judge’s order.”

About the case

The PEEHIP board held two meetings on April 27, 2016. The AEA alleged one of those was labeled “informational” so the PEEHIP board’s members would know what they were voting on at the second meeting. Both were held without input from the public.

“We are thankful that Judge Hardwick saw this situation for what it was – a violation of the Open Meetings Act to ram through a premium increase without public discussion or debate.”

After the AEA filed suit last year, a judge ordered that any money collected by PEEHIP would be held in escrow until a ruling was made.

In his 13-page order, Hardwick agreed with AEA’s contentions and ruled that the actions taken at that meeting, including the increases in premiums and spousal surcharges, were invalid. He also ordered the amounts held in escrow be distributed back to PEEHIP members.

This decision should not have any major impact on PEEHIP’s finances, according to a release from the AEA. While speaking to the state Legislature about PEEHIP’s budget funding, Diane Scott, chief accountant and financial officer for Retirement Systems of Alabama, said the money in escrow was not included in budgeting.