Effected Retirees Receive Retro Payments to January 2024
Just seven weeks after the Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden, retirees receiving Social Security benefits that had been reduced by the WEP or GPO laws began to receive retroactive payments from Social Security dating to January 1, 2024.
The Fairness Act repealed both the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) laws retroactively to January 1, 2024.
Initially, the Social Security Administration (SSA) indicated that it could take a year or more to fully implement the law. The age of the SSA computer systems, which date back to the Johnson Administration,combined with the complexity of recalculating benefits for some 3 million retirees presented a logistical challenge.
“When HR82 was signed into law on January 5th, we assumed implementation would take several months to complete. SSA then cautioned that full restoration of benefits for all retirees impacted by WEP/GPO could take a year or more – a timeframe that we did not believe to be reasonable,”said Association CEO Shawn Duhamel. “Thankfully, our allies in Congress also did not believe that a timeframe of a year or more was acceptable and pushed SSA to prioritize implementation and figure out a way to streamline the process. And that is exactly what happened.”
MASS RETIREES ATTEND STAKEHOLDERS MEETING WITH SSA
In a private stakeholder meeting on February 26th, attended by Mass Retirees and Texas Retired Teachers Association leaders, SSA officials announced that retroactive payments to retirees would begin that week and likely be completed by the end of March. The retroactive payments represent 14-months of Social Security benefits that had been reduced by the WEP or GPO laws.
“It appears that SSA’s technology team were able to create a process within the Kobal computer system that allows for both the retroactive calculation, as well as the recalculated monthly Social Security retirement benefit to be done electronically.There are some cases that are more complicated and require manual calculation by experienced SSA staff, but the bulk of the cases should be processed by the computer system,” explains Association Federal Advisor Tom Lussier, who helped arrange the briefing with SSA. “Following the payment of most retro benefits in March, the bulk of revised monthly payments will take place in April.”
Once the retroactive benefit has been paid and the monthly check recalculated, each impacted retiree will receive a written statement from SSA explaining the new benefit.Retirees can also find their personal information online at www.SSA.gov by setting up and/or logging into your account.
“I retired from the Superior Court Probation Department in 2003,and my wife Marilyn retired from Salem State University in 2011. Weboth qualified for Social Security,but it was reduced due to the WEP. Neither of us thought that we would ever see the day to witness full repeal of the WEP/GPO, so when the deposits appeared in our account,we were shocked,” recalls longtime Association member Lester Friedberg. “We thank the entire MassRetirees team for all your efforts over the years. I’m so proud to be a member of this Association.”
WHAT ACTION SHOULD GPO RETIREES TAKE
For retirees who had previously been denied or did not apply for a spousal/survivor’s benefit due to the GPO, SSA suggests that you contact your local field office to inquire about your status. If you never applied for Social Security benefits before, it will be treated as a new application.
For retirees with a written record of having been previously denied Social Security benefits due to the GPO, the benefit should be paid retroactively to either the date of application OR 1/1/2024, whichever may have occurred more recently. The situation for retirees who were verbally denied benefits and no written record exists is unclear. At this time, SSA is treating cases where no record of denial exists as new applications,which can only be retroactively applied six months in the past.
“We don’t believe it is fair that retirees who received a verbal denial are being treated as new applicants. SSA may say that there is no written proof to back the claim, but we point to the fact that most of these retirees are enrolled in Medicare and have been paying the Part B premium out of-pocket for years. Whether or not this fact is taken as proof of application remains to be seen, but it is something we are fighting for,” says Mass Retirees President Frank Valeri.
Social Security spousal benefits entitle a spouse a benefit equal to ½ of their living spouse’s benefit and 100% of the benefit should their spouse predecease them. Divorced spouses are entitled to the same benefit, so long they were married for not less than 10 years.
Mass Retirees remains actively engaged with Congressional and SSA officials on the implementation process. We will continue to keep members impacted by WEP/GPO well informed of all new developments as they occur.
“When the first retroactive payments began to arrive by direct deposit on February 27th, our phone and email systems simply exploded with messages from members. Retirees were both shocked and thrilled to receive thousands of dollars in money that was owed to them by Social Security. For those who had suffered under the WEP/GPO laws for many years, it was a day that they thought may never come,”said Association Treasurer Joe Connarton. “In all my years working in municipal and state government, I have never witnessed a law passing that had such a positive impact on the day-to-day lives of so many people. It is truly incredible, and I’m proud that our Association played a major role in helping to get this done for our members, as well as retirees across the country.”
In addition to the heartfelt outreach from members, Association leaders have also been contacted by former federal elected officials and Congressional staff whom we have worked with over the years as we advocated to end WEP/GPO.
A particularly touching statement came from former Massachusetts US Senator John Kerry, who had played a central role in working to advance WEP/GPO repeal legislation in the early 2000s.
“This victory for retirees in Massachusetts and across the country is a long time in coming, and it wouldn’t have ever had a chance without the patience and persistence of Mass Retirees which never gave up and never gave in, and has helped do something for working people that finally achieves fairness and justice for people who worked a lifetime and were effectively being punished for choosing careers in public service as teachers or firefighters or postal workers. The most important result of this legislation passing is fundamental fairness. It rights a wrong. But the other lesson is, it ought to inspire everybody to believe that you never give up working towards things that are worth fighting for, because you can win, and we did succeed in overcoming 41 years of gridlock. When I chaired that hearing in 2011 on this bill, we knew we probably couldn’t pass it that year, but we knew it was right to keep the pressure on, and that’s what Shawn Duhamel and Mass Retirees did year in and year out to get this bill to President Biden’s desk.”
-John Kerry