Maximizing a congruence with respect to its partition of idempotents

For a congruence σ on a semigroupS a congruence μ(σ) onS, containing σ, is defined such that the semigroupS/σ is fundamental if and only if σ=μ(σ). The congruence μ(σ) is shown to possess maximality properties and for idempotent-surjective semigroups, μ(σ) is the maximum congruence with respect to the partition of the idempotents determined by σ. Thus μ is the maximum idempotent-separating congruence on any idempotent-surjective semigroup. It is shown that μ(μ(σ))=μ(σ). If ρ is another congruence onS, possibly with the same partition of the idempotents as σ, then it is of interest to know when ρ⊆σ (or ρ⊆μ(σ)) implies μ(ρ)⊆μ(σ) or even μ(ρ)=μ(σ). These implications are not true in general but if σ⊆ρ⊆μ(σ) then μ(ρ)⊆μ(σ). IfS is an idempotent-surjective semigroup and ρ and σ have the same partition of the idempotents then μ(ρ)=μ(σ).