Montgomery permitting workers wrongly claimed hazard pay, report says

Dozens of Montgomery County government employees received hazard pay they were not eligible for, costing the county at least tens of thousands of dollars over six months, the county’s Office of the Inspector General reported Friday.

The revelation of the inaccurate payments elicited outrage from members of the Montgomery County Council, which has clashed with County Executive Marc Elrich (D) over his deals with unions and his fiscal management of the wealthy county’s pandemic response. The council said Friday evening that it would hold an oversight meeting on the report next Tuesday and wanted an independent investigation of the hazard-pay program.