TEACHERS AND SOCIAL SECURITY
There is growing support in Congress to repeal the WEP and the GPO. HR82, Social Security Fairness Act, is a bill; proposed in Congress that would repeal Social Security rules known as the Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP, and the Government Pension Offset, or GPO, that reduce benefits for worker who had positions where they did not pay Social Security taxes, also called non-covered earnings. This action would benefit those workers (teachers) who had second jobs and paid into Social Security and earned the necessary 40 quarters to collect social security.
This legislation has support from many organizations that represent public workers, including teachers, firefighters, and police.
The bill has overwhelming bipartisan support in the House of Representatives with 300 co-sponsors. That support has recently prompted House lawmakers to send a letter to leaders of the Ways and Means Committee to request a hearing.
The Social Security Fairness Act has also been introduced in the Senate with support from 49 leaders from both sides of the aisle.
How WEP and GPO Work: WEP applies to how retirement or disability benefits are calculated if a worker earned a retirement or disability pension from an employer who did not withhold Social Security taxes and qualifies for Social Security from work in other jobs where they did pay taxes into the program.
Social Security benefits are calculated using worker’s average indexed monthly earnings, and then using a formula to calculate a worker’s basic benefit amount. For workers affected by the WEP, part of the replacement rate for the average indexed monthly earnings is brought down to 40% from 90%.
GPO, meanwhile, reduces benefits for spouses and widows or widowers of recipients of retirement or disability pensions from local, state, or federal governments.
Under the GPO, Social Security benefits are reduced by two-thirds of the government pension. If two-thirds of the government pension is more than the Social Security benefit, the Social Security benefit may be zero.
The impact of the rules is far reaching, according to Edward Kelly, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters. Many firefighters work in second jobs in the private sector as cab drivers, bartenders, or truck drivers, where they earn credits toward Social Security. “They steal their money, because they’re also public employees,” said Kelly, who described his union members as “passionately angry” about the issue.
There is growing support in Congress to repeal the WEP and the GPO. HR82, Social Security Fairness Act, is a bill; proposed in Congress that would repeal Social Security rules known as the Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP, and the Government Pension Offset, or GPO, that reduce benefits for worker who had positions where they did not pay Social Security taxes, also called non-covered earnings. This action would benefit those workers (teachers) who had second jobs and paid into Social Security and earned the necessary 40 quarters to collect social security.
This legislation has support from many organizations that represent public workers, including teachers, firefighters, and police.
The bill has overwhelming bipartisan support in the House of Representatives with 300 co-sponsors. That support has recently prompted House lawmakers to send a letter to leaders of the Ways and Means Committee to request a hearing.
The Social Security Fairness Act has also been introduced in the Senate with support from 49 leaders from both sides of the aisle.
How WEP and GPO Work: WEP applies to how retirement or disability benefits are calculated if a worker earned a retirement or disability pension from an employer who did not withhold Social Security taxes and qualifies for Social Security from work in other jobs where they did pay taxes into the program.
Social Security benefits are calculated using worker’s average indexed monthly earnings, and then using a formula to calculate a worker’s basic benefit amount. For workers affected by the WEP, part of the replacement rate for the average indexed monthly earnings is brought down to 40% from 90%.
GPO, meanwhile, reduces benefits for spouses and widows or widowers of recipients of retirement or disability pensions from local, state, or federal governments.
Under the GPO, Social Security benefits are reduced by two-thirds of the government pension. If two-thirds of the government pension is more than the Social Security benefit, the Social Security benefit may be zero.
The impact of the rules is far reaching, according to Edward Kelly, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters. Many firefighters work in second jobs in the private sector as cab drivers, bartenders, or truck drivers, where they earn credits toward Social Security. “They steal their money, because they’re also public employees,” said Kelly, who described his union members as “passionately angry” about the issue.