The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduced Social Security benefits for many public employees—including teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other government workers—as well as some people with foreign pensions. These rules often cut benefits that workers or their spouses had earned over a lifetime of service.
Many retirees lost hundreds—or even thousands—of dollars each month because of these provisions.
The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law on January 5, 2025, ended both WEP and GPO. This change restores full Social Security benefits to affected public workers and their spouses. The law may have applied retroactively to January 2024 to some individuals who already applied. Most retirees began receiving higher payments in 2025.
For more information and to read about how ARTC teamed with others to finally make this a reality for those who earned these benefits. Click here to read our special newsletter edition dedicated to the Overturn of WEP and GPO provisions.