GPO
A Reminder for Widow(ers) and Divorced Spouses in the Wake of HR 82
Last year’s passage of HR 82 (the so-called “Social Security Fairness Act of 2023“) changed the landscape for millions of current and future beneficiaries, with some of the changes affecting surviving spouses and divorcees. A recent post by NJ.com Trending…
How Fair is the “Social Security Fairness Act?”
What is the Social Security Fairness Act? With considerable fanfare, following many years of lobbying from public service unions and affected constituents, Congress passed, and President Biden signed, in the final days of his administration, the so-called Social Security Fairness…
Retrospective on “WEP/GPO”
This article on the elimination of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provides a union-perspective of those two Social Security (SS)provisions and how their recent elimination affects nearly 3.1 million public servants. Essentially, the provisions…
Update on the Social Security Fairness Act
The much-heralded “Social Security Fairness Act” resulted in increased Social Security benefits for anyone who was previously affected by either the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) or the Government Pension Offset (GPO). These provisions affected anyone who had earned both a…
A wave of new Social Security benefit claims
With the signing of the Social Security Fairness Act into law on January 5, 2025, the Social Security Administration has, “To date, we have processed approximately 30,000 of these new initial claims and, depending on their age and other factors…
SSA Under Pressure to Expedite HR 82 Implementation
In a display of bipartisan interest, a coalition of 28 Senator this week issued a letter to Social Security Acting Commissioner Michelle King expressing concern that “… it might take the agency more than a year to implement an expansion…
HR 82 Impact…The Story Continues
The long-awaited repeal of Social Security’s Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) is old news at this point, but the continuing story relates to when those slated to benefit from the repeal will see the results in…
SSA Customer Service Critiqued by Whistleblower in FNN Article
Much has been written about the level of public dissatisfaction with customer service provided by Social Security Administration (SSA) field offices. The matter has been the subject of several Congressional hearings and has often been attributed to staffing issues the…
WEP and GPO Repealed Pending Biden’s Signature
The Social Security Fairness Act passed the Senate 76-20 over the weekend. The GOP was split evenly 20 for and 20 against the bill. It repeals two federal policies — the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset…
WEP-GPO Repeal: The Argument(s) Continue to Unfold
Over the past few weeks, and especially in the week or so leading up to the November 12 House vote on H.R. 82 (the “Social Security Fairness Act”), we’ve seen a relatively steady stream of opinions about the merit of…