speedymarie
08-28-2007, 05:53 PM
Did you know that the current Social Security Law is structured so that if you were eligible for both Social Security benefits, and certain kinds of pensions, your Social Security benefits would be canceled or reduced? This applies to teachers and police, especially - those receiving federal, state or local pensions.
There's two aspects:
The Government Pension Offset (GPO)
Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)
What this basically breaks down to is if you are eligable for both Social Security and a federal, state or local pension, your Social Security benefits (the ones you already EARNED), can be reduced or canceled, based on your pension. This includes pensions from spouses, not just personal pensions. Two men can pay into Social Security for 30 years and die in the same year. The one whose wife was a secretary in a corporation would receive all his Social Security benefits, plus her own. The one whose wife was a teacher would have the percentage of her husband's benefits reduced due to her teacher's pension.
Let's take me, for example. I've worked for the last 13 years in various jobs, and I've paid into Social Security for those 13 years. Next year, I'll become a teacher. Rather than paying into Social Security, I'll be paying into a teacher's pension fund. The Social Security benefits I'm supposed to receive - that I've already paid for - will be reduced because of the additional pension (really just a different form of SS) I'll be recieving.
Why do I bring this up? There is a bill, HR 82 and S 206, known as the Social Security Fairness Act, which will repeal these laws, so that we get all the benefits we have earned. The bill is currently sitting in committee, but support (http://www.nea.org/lac/socsec/latestnews.html) is starting to build up on it and Congress is hopefully going to bring it to a vote this fall.
The NEA has an online petition that you can sign (http://capwiz.com/nea/issues/alert/?alertid=10186961) to encourage your Congressional representatives to move on this bill. Please, please sign it, and if you could post it on your blog as well, that would be awesome.
There's two aspects:
The Government Pension Offset (GPO)
Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)
What this basically breaks down to is if you are eligable for both Social Security and a federal, state or local pension, your Social Security benefits (the ones you already EARNED), can be reduced or canceled, based on your pension. This includes pensions from spouses, not just personal pensions. Two men can pay into Social Security for 30 years and die in the same year. The one whose wife was a secretary in a corporation would receive all his Social Security benefits, plus her own. The one whose wife was a teacher would have the percentage of her husband's benefits reduced due to her teacher's pension.
Let's take me, for example. I've worked for the last 13 years in various jobs, and I've paid into Social Security for those 13 years. Next year, I'll become a teacher. Rather than paying into Social Security, I'll be paying into a teacher's pension fund. The Social Security benefits I'm supposed to receive - that I've already paid for - will be reduced because of the additional pension (really just a different form of SS) I'll be recieving.
Why do I bring this up? There is a bill, HR 82 and S 206, known as the Social Security Fairness Act, which will repeal these laws, so that we get all the benefits we have earned. The bill is currently sitting in committee, but support (http://www.nea.org/lac/socsec/latestnews.html) is starting to build up on it and Congress is hopefully going to bring it to a vote this fall.
The NEA has an online petition that you can sign (http://capwiz.com/nea/issues/alert/?alertid=10186961) to encourage your Congressional representatives to move on this bill. Please, please sign it, and if you could post it on your blog as well, that would be awesome.