Note: I am posting this basic information in several places. The reason is simply we (advocates) are pushing super hard to get this situation handed during the upcoming Lame Duck Session. Not squashed by the R-controlled, anti-SS, anti-gov Catfood Commissisars. Please help
The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) deny fully-earned Social Security Benefits to more than one million second-career public servants when they retire or when a spouse dies.
Fifteen states (including my state, California) fall under this provision, which is coordinated with federal benefits. The other 35 states have eliminated this loophole from their retirement plans. More toxic is the GPO provision which penalizes a surviving spouses of a wage-earner under this provision, even to the point that it could fully offset any potential spousal benefit.
A strong effort is being made by an advocacy group called Social Security Fairness to push Democratic Rep Howard Berman's HR 235 'Social Security Fairness Act' to a floor vote during the Lame Duck Session. If it isn't repealed before the new group gets the gavel, it will not happen.
Here is the site of the group coordinating for repeal.
www.ssfairness.com
They have a great PowerPoint on the facts, action plans and tools. A webinar is being planned for after Thanksgiving. Sign up, circulate the info and spread the word. It's not just a matter for near-retirees, it's a way of standing up for the public commons, unions, aging parents and surviving spouses who could be caught in a cruel trap.