July 16, 2025

Subject: Employer Self-Service Login Accounts – New Security Protocol

MainePERS has recently reviewed Employer Self-Service (ESS) accounts and will be implementing a change in practice regarding employer logins and management of ESS inactive accounts.

Employers participating in a MainePERS pension plan or the Group Life Insurance (GLI) program must use the ESS portal to provide information about their participating members to MainePERS. Employers designate their staff members who conduct this work and provide them with a unique ESS user account to access the portal. Additionally, every employer must have one or more designated ESS Security Administrators. 

The role of the ESS Security Administrator includes, among other things, maintaining ESS user accounts for their location. This includes terminating user accounts when an individual no longer requires access to ESS due to changes in responsibilities or leaving employment. If an ESS Security Administrator is unable to terminate a user account, they should report the need to terminate the account to MainePERS staff for assistance.

A recent review of the list of active login accounts identified several accounts that had not been used for a significant length of time or not at all. These inactive accounts result in sending communications to individuals no longer needing the information, as well as exposing MainePERS and the employer to unnecessary security risks. Therefore, we are revising our practices on inactive ESS login accounts and have begun inactivating existing accounts where there has been no active login for a period of twelve or more months. Going forward, MainePERS will systematically lock ESS user accounts if there has not been a successful login within that twelve-month window. For those who have a login account in the ESS portal but use it infrequently, you may want to login periodically to ensure that your account remains active.

If you have any questions about this change in practice, please feel free to reach out to us at employer@mainepers.org, or call your assigned Employer Reporting Account Associate.