Social Security Fairness Act: How the WEP & GPO repeal may affect your benefits

The Social Security Fairness Act (SSFA) may increase Social Security benefits paid to people—and in some cases, their spouses, widows or widowers—who've spent at least some of their careers in certain public sector jobs. The retroactive act could affect nearly 3 million people, making some Social Security recipients eligible for benefit increases that date back more than a year.

If you've worked in public service and also in the private sector, paying into Social Security, the SSFA could significantly impact your retirement benefits. Learn how the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) repeal affects your eligibility for increased payments, including potential retroactive benefits.

Signed into law on Jan. 5, 2025, the Social Security Fairness Act repeals provisions that previously reduced Social Security benefits for some people who also were receiving pensions from jobs not covered by Social Security.

Noncovered jobs are with employers, often in the public sector, that don't participate in the Social Security system and therefore don't withhold Social Security taxes. That means Social Security taxes aren't withheld from paychecks, and earnings don't qualify the employee to receive Social Security benefits in retirement. Noncovered workers include many, but not all, of the following:

• Teachers
• Firefighters
• Police officers
• Others in state and local government jobs
• Some people who work for non-U.S. organizations

Instead of earning Social Security retirement benefits, many noncovered employees receive pensions for their time on the job.

If you only work in noncovered positions, you never qualify for Social Security, based on your own work record. But if, over the course of your career, you work in some covered and some noncovered jobs, you could be eligible for both pension and Social Security benefits when you reach retirement age, so the SSFA would affect you.

Prior to the SSFA's passage, many people eligible for both Social Security and pension benefits collected less in Social Security than they would have if they'd only worked in their covered jobs. In addition, their spouses (including ex-spouses) and widows and widowers often received reduced Social Security spousal and survivor benefits or, in some cases, missed out on them altogether based on their non-covered employment.

The benefit reductions targeted by the SSFA were due to two Social Security Act provisions:

• The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). Enacted in 1983, the WEP reduced Social Security benefits for people who worked fewer than 30 years in covered jobs and were eligible for a noncovered pension.
• The Government Pension Offset (GPO). Enacted in 1977, the GPO reduced—and in many cases, eliminated—Social Security benefits earned by an employee and payable to their spouse or widow(er).
  

While in effect, the WEP could influence the size of your Social Security benefits. For most people, Social Security benefits are calculated based on their average indexed monthly earnings (AIME) from jobs covered by Social Security. For people who reached age 62 (or died at a younger age) in 2024, the standard formula to establish a monthly primary insurance amount (PIA) at full retirement age was the sum of these three calculations (rounded down to the next $0.10):

• 90% of the first $1,174 of AIME
• 32% of AIME between $1,175 and $7,078
• 15% of AIME above $7,078

The standard formula's AIME dollar figures are adjusted each year. Therefore, the actual amount of your Social Security benefits depends on when you choose to start receiving them: claiming benefits before, at, or after your full retirement age will affect your monthly payments.

In the past, if you were slated to receive both Social Security and noncovered pension payments in retirement, the WEP might modify the standard PIA formula. If the number of years in which you'd paid qualifying Social Security taxes—or your years of coverage (YOC)—was:

• 30 years or more: The standard PIA formula applied.
• 21–29 years: The first calculation reduced the 90% factor by 5% for each number of years below 30.
• 20 or fewer years: The first calculation replaced the 90% factor with 40%.

However, the maximum allowed PIA reduction was half the amount of your noncovered pension benefit. That limit was known as the WEP guarantee.

The table below illustrates how YOC affected Social Security benefits in the past—and how the SSFA's WEP repeal now provides bigger benefits for many recipients.

Before its repeal, the Government Pension Offset (GPO) significantly impacted Social Security spousal benefits and survivor benefits for spouses and surviving spouses who had worked in noncovered employment. The GPO reduced the Social Security spousal or survivor benefit by two-thirds of the pension benefit that the spouse or widow(er) also was eligible to receive. In many cases, that calculation fully eliminated a Social Security benefit that otherwise would have been paid.

The table below illustrates how pension size affected Social Security calculations in the past—and how the SSFA's GPO repeal now provides bigger benefits for many recipients.

In 2024, the WEP affected more than 2 million people—around 3% of Social Security beneficiaries—while the GPO affected around 750,000 people. So, these respective repeals have a significant impact.

The areas of the country most impacted by the SSFA are those with a high concentration of public sector employees, such as teachers, firefighters and police officers, whose jobs are not covered by Social Security and instead offer noncovered pensions. States with the most people previously subject to the WEP and/or GPO are:

• California
• Texas
• Ohio
• Illinois
• Florida
• Massachusetts
• Colorado
• Louisiana
• Georgia

The SSFA will be particularly helpful to people who earn low wages and modest Social Security and/or pension benefits. Previously, the WEP's and GPO's benefit cuts could represent a sizeable portion of their potential retirement income stream.

Women will reap the bulk of the GPO repeal's benefits, as they make up more than 80% of the people whose Social Security spousal and survivor benefits were previously reduced or eliminated by the provision.

Although the SSFA was enacted in January 2025, it retroactively applies from January 2024. That means people receiving Social Security benefits now are immediately eligible for any increases provided by the act, and people who've received Social Security benefits since January 2024 may qualify for back payments.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has stated that processing the SSFA's changes will be complex and take some time—perhaps more than a year. A new online resource is available to help the public understand what's happening and stay informed about implementation plans.

Carefully examine your work history to determine if you have ever earned a noncovered pension through public employment, such as a government job, while also accumulating years of coverage (YOC) in jobs covered by Social Security. You can seek help from the SSA's website or by calling 1-800-772-1213.

The reduction formula depended on what year you became eligible for retirement benefits. If you turned 62 in 2024, the WEP could've reduced your monthly benefit at full retirement age by as much as $587.

If the GPO affected you, you may now be eligible for a Social Security benefit increase of up to two-thirds the amount of your monthly spousal and survivor pension benefit. The GPO may have previously prohibited you from receiving any Social Security spousal and survivor benefit at all.

If the WEP or GPO reduced Social Security benefits payable to you for January 2024 or later, you may be eligible for a lump sum reimbursement of those reductions. The SSA estimates that it may take more than a year to pay all retroactive benefits.

If your career included federal government employment and one or more jobs covered by Social Security, you might see an increase in Social Security benefits due to the WEP and GPO repeal.

If someone contacts you about the SSFA, exercise caution and look for red flags. The SSA won't ever pressure you to take immediate action or ask you to pay for assistance or expedited benefit increases. To protect yourself from scams, avoid answering calls from unknown phone numbers, clicking on suspicious text within email or social media messages or providing personal details to unverified sources.

If you haven't applied for Social Security benefits but think you may be newly eligible for them due to the SSFA, you can apply online or schedule an appointment with the SSA. If you've already applied for Social Security benefits, you can verify that the SSA has your current address and bank account information at ssa.gov/myaccount.

If you've ever worked in the public sector—or could in the future—the SSFA may affect your retirement income and prompt you to consider some strategy adjustments. Talk to a Thrivent financial advisor to discuss the act's implications for you and your family.