Social Security Fairness Act brings retirement changes for nearly 3 million public pensioners.
President Joe Biden on Sunday signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law, clearing the way for nearly 3 million public workers including teachers, firefighters and police to see an increase to their Social Security benefits.
President Joe Biden on Sunday signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law, clearing the way for nearly 3 million public workers including teachers, firefighters and police to see an increase to their Social Security benefits.
Now, two provisions that reduced Social Security benefits for certain public workers who receive pensions — the Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP, and that Government Pension Offset, or GPO — have been eliminated.
The WEP and GPO were put in place more than four decades ago. When the provisions were created, the goal was to ensure that workers who earn public pensions from employment where they did not pay into Social Security, but who also qualify for Social Security benefits through other work, receive the same payout as workers who pay into Social Security for their entire careers.
The WEP was enacted in 1983 and reduces Social Security benefits for some workers who also receive pension or disability benefits from work where Social Security payroll taxes were not withheld.
The GPO was enacted in 1977 and reduces Social Security benefits for certain spouses, widows and widowers who also receive income from their own government pensions.
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