Yesterday was a tremendous day. Millions of police officers, firefighters, and teachers will get their full social security benefits because of the work we did getting this bill passed,” said NJ State PBA President Peter Andreyev. “As I sat in the White House watching the bill signed into law, I knew history was being made. This has been a struggle for decades, but we got it passed with the support of so many. I can’t thank National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) for all their leadership and guidance.
The Social Security Fairness Act eliminates 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.
Specifically, the new Social Security law repeals policies known as the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), which together act to reduce Social Security payments to 2.5 million retirees. It means an initial boost of $360 more a month for Social Security recipients denied full benefits. The increase would amount to an average of $1,190 for 390,000 surviving spouses getting a widow or widower benefit.
“There are police officers and their families who will forever benefit from the changes we fought for. This law took a lot of time and effort to get passed. I went to Washington D.C to advocate for its passage, met with Congressional leaders, and worked with NAPO. I am thankful to so many New Jersey Congressional leaders who took my call, heard my concerns, and passed this law,” said President Andreyev.
2/26/25:
The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that starting this week retroactive benefits payments will begin going out and beneficiaries who were impacted by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and/or the Government Pension Offset (GPO) will begin receiving their full benefits. According to the SSA, the retroactive benefits, which repay the benefits lost to GPO and WEP back to January 2024, will be received in a one-time payment by the end of March. Most impacted beneficiaries will begin receiving their increased GPO and WEP-free Social Security benefits in April. Payments will be processed incrementally throughout March, so not everyone will receive their retroactive payments at the same time.
There are some complex cases, particularly GPO cases, where the SSA will need to process the benefit changes manually, which could delay the retroactive payment and monthly benefit increase.
Please refer to the SSA’s FAQ section found directly below:
The Social Security Administration just posted a detailed FAQ on the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), including what it does, who it impacts, and what retirees can expect. You can find the FAQ here.