Full Social Security Benefits Reinstated for Public Pension Retirees

1 minute read

On January 5, 2025, then-President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law. This legislation eliminates the Social Security Governmental Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), two federal regulations that previously slashed Social Security payments for over 3.2 million workers eligible for public pensions from non-Social Security-covered employment. With this transformative act, retirees in public pension systems can now look forward to receiving their full Social Security benefits.

The law takes effect for benefits after December 2023, but adjustments and retroactive payments may take over a year for some beneficiaries.

Employers can find more information about the Social Security Fairness Act at their website. Under the website heading, “What should people do now that the Social Security Fairness Act is Law?”, it contains instructions about:

• How to apply for spouses’ or surviving spouses’ benefits if a person never applied,
• How to check whether a person ever applied for spouses’ or surviving spouses’ benefits before, and
• If a person is entitled to spouses’ or surviving spouses’ benefits, and their benefits are currently being reduced or eliminated by GPO; OR if they are entitled to retired or disabled workers’ benefits, and their benefits are currently being reduced by WEP.

Download the legal briefing for more details.