PPOA Executive Director
wquint@ppoa.com
Editor’s note: After this article was submitted, H.R. 82 was signed into law by President Joe Biden on January 5, 2025. This accomplishment is historic in scope and required a monumental, union-led effort to secure the Social Security benefits earned rightfully by millions of public servants.
Happy new year! Hopefully, each of you has had a chance to peruse PPOA’s 2024 Annual Report, and especially PPOA President Steve Johnson’s message, which succinctly details our Association’s commitment to continuing a “Tradition of Success” for our active and retired members. Specifically, Steve rightfully acknowledges the Fraternal Order of Police’s (FOP) “remarkable progress” regarding the recent passage of H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023.
All active PPOA members are members of the National FOP, which is composed of more than 2,200 local lodges serving 377,000 members nationwide. PPOA members belong to California FOP Lodge #1 (L.A. County). Our lodge joins 32 other subordinate lodges throughout California that collectively belong to the California State FOP Lodge, representing over 21,000 law enforcement professionals. PPOA President Johnson serves on the Executive Board of the California State FOP Lodge as sergeant at arms.
At the time of this article, public employees across the United States were hailing the December 21, 2024, historic vote on the U.S. Senate floor, which sent H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023, without amendment, by a yea–nay bipartisan vote of 76–20 to President Biden’s desk for his expected signature. The bill previously passed the House of Representatives on November 12, 2024, by roll call vote, 327–75–1, under suspension of the rules.
This legislation repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), which have reduced the amount of Social Security benefits accessible to select federal, state and local employees, and to their spouses and survivors. The WEP and GPO affect an estimated 6.5 million public-sector workers not covered by Social Security.
It should be noted that anyone born in 1929 or later needs 10 years of work (40 credits) to be eligible for Social Security retirement benefits. How many credits you need for Social Security disability benefits depends on how old you were when your disability began.
The WEP affects how Social Security calculates your retirement or disability benefit. If you work for an employer (Los Angeles County) who does not withhold Social Security taxes from your salary, any retirement or disability pension you get from that work can and almost always will reduce your Social Security benefits.
The GPO reduces Social Security benefits paid to spouses or survivors when the spouse or survivor earned a pension from a government job that was not covered by Social Security. The GPO reduction is equal to two-thirds of the amount of the pension payment from noncovered government work. The Social Security Administration uses the following example:
If you get a monthly civil service pension of $3,000, two-thirds of that, or $2,000, must be deducted from your Social Security benefits. So, if you are eligible for a $2,100 spouse’s or surviving spouse’s benefit from Social Security, you will get $100 a month ($2,100 – $2,000 = $100). If two-thirds of your government pension is more than your Social Security benefit, your benefit could be reduced to zero.
After the historic passage of H.R. 82, Patrick Yoes, national president of the FOP, stated, “The WEP and GPO are inherently unfair provisions that unjustly penalize our nation’s public employees. No one, even those who did not vote for our bill today, argued that the provisions treated workers fairly. No one.”
Yoes acknowledged that Social Security fairness had been a legislative priority for the FOP since 1997, and he thanked President-elect Trump (endorsed by the National FOP and California State FOP Lodge) for his invaluable assistance in delivering support for the Senate passage of H.R. 82.
To help PPOA members better understand these important changes and the timeline for implementation, the FOP has created a comprehensive questions and answers guide. This resource provides clear explanations about how the repeal of these provisions will affect you, what to expect moving forward and how to navigate the updates to your benefits: tinyurl.com/2nwve57w.
As the situation evolves and further details emerge, this document will be updated regularly to ensure it remains an accurate and reliable resource. Please check back often for the latest questions and answers.
May the coming year bring our active and retired members God’s blessings, good health and fulfillment of your dreams.