To the editor:
I write to ask you to address an injustice, which was created by Congress, that has weakened retirement security for thousands of public sector workers, especially in Massachusetts.
The Social Security Administration Act of 1983 contained two provisions — The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).
They were supposed to address what some members of Congress viewed as a disparity between public sector workers with pensions and other Social Security beneficiaries.
The WEP and the GPO claw back the Social Security benefits of public sector workers and their spouses if the worker had a job for a period of time that was not covered by Social Security.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of public workers have not received the full Social Security retirement benefits they earned. The GPO is a women’s issue. Nearly 800,000 are affected but 83 percent nationally are women who are struggling. This problem grows each year as more public sector employees retire.
The 2021 Congressional Research Service Report on this issue shows that low-income workers are disproportionately affected by the WEP and GPO. Further, half of those affected by the WEP are women and an even larger percentage of those impacted by the GPO are women.
Part of the reason for this disparity is that women are more likely to survive their spouses and see a reduction in their dependent survivor’s benefit due to the GPO penalty. In addition, women tend to have a smaller pension due to a shorter work history.
We are encouraged by this Congress’ actions to address the multi-employer pension crisis and ensure that millions of workers and retirees will receive the pensions they have earned.
We ask that Congress enact the Social Security Fairness Act of 2021, a bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis.
Barbara Mann
Lynn
