Recently signed legislation expanded Social Security benefits for millions of retired Americans, including firefighters, police officers and teachers.

The Social Security Fairness Act eliminated two federal policies that barred employees with a public pension from collecting their full benefits under the federal retirement program, and that reduced benefits for those workers’ surviving spouses and family members.  As a result, these individuals had their social security benefits reduced by hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Specifically, the new Social Security law repeals policies known as the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), which together acted to reduce Social Security payments to 2.5 million retirees. In essence, those individuals who worked years in the private sector, will no longer be penalized by these provisions.

The SSFA restored benefits for retired firefighters, police officers, teachers and emergency medical workers who will now receive the full Social Security benefits for which they’ve earned and previously paid into the system. Recent developments indicate it may take up to twelve months for the calculations and processing of the benefits. These individuals can expect to receive their additional social security benefits within the year.

With this in mind, you should advise your law enforcement/public sector/education clients/retirees of the potential benefit they may be entitled to.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact Goyette Ruano and Thompson for additional information.