Thank you LarryFine for bringing this up. Many public service employees are not even aware of this until they retire. And then they find out that the social security pension they depended on getting will be cut by up to 45%. I try to discourage young people from going into public service. It is unfair and WEP/GPO needs to be repealed. All public employees are asking for is what they have already paid into social security, no more, no less.
I don’t know why Clark does not do a segment on WEP/GPO to educate people who are thinking about going into public service. Maybe he can help put pressure on Congress to pass the Social Security Fairness Act HR 82.
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My wife started SocSec last year, and was NOT badly hit by GPO / WEP despite being an Adjunct College Faculty Member, after having a career at a place which collected SocSec tax. Still, we had some tense weeks waiting to see her retirement benefit letter. Thanks for keeping this thread alive, GPO and WEP are terrible taxes which need to die.
How long did she work at the job where she paid into Social Security? They require that you work 35 years before the effects of WEP or GPO are practically erased. Unfortunately I’d be in my 80’s if I did that…
Larry:
I would be willing to bet that a majority of your earnings were in the teaching profession. You paid very little into the system. Instead contributing into a teachers retirement fund. Thats where you old age retirement comes from. Because you worked a few odd jobs an had SS withheld from your check does not entitile you to get a double pay out. (Both teachers retirement and social security). Unless you earned more and contributed for 30 years than your teachers salary. The name of the bill is a misnomer because fairness already exists in your case. Most states that have teachers retirements have unions and it is a negotiated benefit. Southern states have no unions and those terachers get social security pay outs.
Jim