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Yesterday was the 80th anniversary of Social Security.
It was an important victory for working people during the Great Depression.
Today, the average worker who depends on Social Security as their sole retirement pension lives below the poverty line.
Teachers in 15 states receive no Social Security, or they have it reduced significantly.
As a teacher in Illinois who contributed into Social Security until I was 38 and began teaching, this is a major financial loss.
Why do I lose a major part of my Social Security benefit?
Because of two Federal laws called The Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).
In the view of Congress, being paid the Social Security I am owed is considered a “windfall.”
The Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) penalize people who have dedicated their lives to public service by taking away benefits we earned.
I lose my entire spousal benefit, even though Anne has paid into Social Security for her entire working career.
Many people who enter the teaching profession late in their working lives are not aware of the GPO and WEP. They are too old to earn maximum state pension benefits and yet they lose most of their earned Social Security benefits.
Happy 80th birthday, Social Security.
Maybe one day we teachers will get ours too.
Fred Klonsky 
I am in your precise situation. I have 50 quarters of Social Security credit–ten more than the maximum required (I began teaching when I was 34). To add to that, millionaires and billionaires draw their full Social Security in spite of retaining gigantic sources of income like the terribly mis-named “carried interest” loophole (i.e. Mitt Romney). Also we need to remember that nobody has to pay into the Social Security trust fund on earnings above, about, $105,000; another example of welfare for the wealthy.
If you have 40 quarters of social security, you can get your entire benefit when you retire. If you have less that 40, a certain percentage is deducted. I had 39 quarters and 15% is deducted. At least, that’s the way it plays out in California.
A class action lawsuit? I worked 20 years under SS but I get about $100 a month. I’m supposed to get at least $700. Isn’t that stealing?
Got to change the law Joan. Yell and scream.
I didn’t know about the spousal benefit part! I don’t expect to outlive my spouse–but who does.
Yeah, my spousal benefit is eliminated. Another reason for my wife to take it at 62.
We can thank Rottenkowski for some of this.
Most of this!
A good number of people have written their Congress person to change this. Many give lip service that they agree that we are getting short changed. Some even introduce legislation to change it. The bill never makes it out of committee. Not important to them. It would take a major effort to try to get this changed. This Offset stuff was agreed to a long time ago.
Reminds me of CPS when they agreed to pay the teacher payments for their pensions, in return for larger block grants (which more than offset their teacher pension costs). Now they want to stop paying the pension piece, but you can bet they won’t want to give up the block grants that covered these costs. Pension theft, with a twist.
The article doesn’t list the 15 states. I need to know if I’m affected because I have literally never heard of this, and I started teaching at 36.
They are listed here: http://www.nea.org/home/16839.htm
Virginia, the list is only partly accurate. Look at your pay stub to see if social security is being taken out. Also, call social security they can look up your employer and your individual record and tell you for sure.
Thanks for bringing attention to what should be called The Social Security Contribution Confiscation Act – Spousal Impoverishment Act, instead of the WEP-GPO. I am significantly, and humiliatingly, affected by this unjust legislation, having worked from late teenage years until retirement. Because half my career was in the private non-profit sector, and half in TRS covered employment, I also take the hit. This needs to change now.
I’m sorry for all of those affected in the 15 states. It sounds almost like something a new contract might allow new employees to opt into-pay the social security tax and then collect later.
I know that postal workers used to be affected by this, but I don’t know what their situation is now. They might have a road map to get out of this.
It’s better not to have all of your eggs in one basket.
This book explains everything. I haven’t finished reading it yet, but it appears that it’s possible to collect a portion of your ss depending on how long and how much you paid into it.
Link to PBS segment about the book:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/get-whats-social-security/
Here’s the video:
I became aware of the WEP/GPO right when it was passed. I tried to make people aware right away, but to no avail. There was no internet back then so I tried to explain it on a one to one basis, but little interest was shown at the time. There was a time delay, it did not affect people retiring at all for several years, and for us that had many years to go, retirement was so far in the future it did not take priority. Eliminating WEP/GPO and implementing “card check” were the 2 main items that were supposed to be done the first two years of the Obama administration. The Democrats won control of the U.S. House, a filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate, and the Presidency.
I made calls and calls and calls those two years. It wasn’t that they were against it, and they could have easily kept their promises to labor. They were “busy” with other things including Obamacare, and told me they would look into WEP/GPO “next year”. They thought they would still be in the majority the next year. They were over-confident. The next year they had lost control of the U.S. House, and all hope for repeal of this unjust law was lost.
I’m convinced that they never really meant to eliminate these provisions. Our unions, our less active colleagues, and the Democrats all let us down.
Which President signed off on the Windfall Act? I am getting roughly 1/4 of what they told me that I would be getting prior to my retiring. I worked plenty of jobs outside of teaching and Social Security money was taken from each paycheck that I received. All during my latter years of teaching I would get these annual statements telling me what I would get if I retired at that point in time. When I actually retired and heard the bad news I was so disappointed. They call it a Windfall, but I have often heard it referred to as the “Teacher Penalty”.
Ronald Reagan.
GPO and WEP only effect government or public employees. Another free ride that the wealthy elite enjoy.
Jack Retired Water and Sue,
My wife and I are in the same boat. She worked for TWA for 15 years and then will have taught for 22 years when she retires. Due to WEP she will lose some of her Social Security benefit plus we all know what happened to TWA. Carl Icahn bankrupted TWA, stole the money from the pension plan and then turned the plan over to the Feds.
I worked for a Public School district but not as a teacher and I therefore paid Social Security (FICA) my whole career. After hiring a consulting firm to look at our situation to determine the best strategy for us to claim our Social Security benefits, we found this out. By law Social Security cannot answer strategizing questions and most of the Social Security employees have no idea of the options available under the Social Security act. There are hundreds of claiming strategies but Social Security cannot discuss them with you. You MUST know what is best for you when you make your claiming decisions.
For example, I can at age 66 claim a spousal benefit based on my wife’s Social Security covered work with TWA. That benefit to me is half of her Social Security benefit. I can claim that Spousal Benefit until I reach age 70 where I then switch to my own much higher delayed Social Security benefit. My wife also holds off claiming Social Security until age 70, thus increasing her benefit and therefore offsetting much of the WEP penalty to her benefit. The maximum WEP penalty as of 2015 is $413.00.
Remember, almost all Social Security decision you will make are irreversible so you must know what is best for your own personal situation before claiming or filing for Social Security benefits.
This is all explained in that great book mentioned by Sue above “Get What’s Yours, The Secret to Maxing out your Social Security” by Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Philip Moeller and Paul Solman. Or you can hire a firm to analyze your specific situation with real numbers. We felt it was money well spent.
Here’s a link to an amazing PBS segment about the book:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/get-whats-social-security/
Thanks, Gerald, this is very insightful information. Also, doing some investigating about GPO/WEP………I ready Jimmy Carter signed into law GPO in 1977 and it became fully implemented in 1983. The WEP also became law in 1983 when it was pushed through by the House Ways and Means Committee chaired by none other than Dan Rostenkowski. Rottenkowski is a favorite among the senior citizen set…..LOL…..Anyway the strange about these two were they were both Democrats. Go figure.
Strangely, union representation rights for Illinois public employees including teachers was signed into law by Jim Thompson, a Republican. Back then there were a lot of republicans who represented their districts including public employees and teachers. Now, I can’t think of a single Republican who is not anti-labor, anti-union, anti-public employee, and anti-teacher pension.
We must push for total repeal of WEP/GPO, with no “replacement”. Several bills were proposed that require all new public employees to be put into social security, a Hobson’s choice! It would result in most public pension systems nationwide to be eventually phased out, with public retirees getting only social security. We did fine before WEP/GPO existed, and there is no need to “replace” it with anything, just put it out of existence. The Republican strategy of “treat government employees the same” is deceptive, it really means “add extra social security tax to teachers earnings”.
As a kid I worked on a sod farm where I made the stunning wage of $1.00 per hour.
Add a carpenters helper,cabinet maker,and lots of Joe jobs and i actually had over the magic 40 quarters.When I turned 65 my reward is Medicare,and glad I am to get it.Now
since i get a CPS pension once a year I have to SEND A CHECK to social security to pay for
the difference.It could be a lot worse but I feel like all the money Social Security took from my check should at least cover medicare medicare.