Unfair laws threaten the retirement security of educators and others public employees by cutting or eliminating Social Security benefits they or their spouse have earned. These laws also discourage talented people from entering and staying in the education profession.
I have worked as a public school science teacher for 36 years. I’m a Vietnam Vet incuding the1968 Tet offensive! I put myself through college and am finally paying off the last tuiton for my 3 children. . I’ve had a large number of part time and full time jobs during the past 50 years that have paid into the Social Security system. Give us our full benefits that we have worked hard for! We built this country ! Now reward us for our efforts!
Seriously, our “friends” in Washington had the chance to change these unfair laws, and they let it slip through their fingers, just like healthcare reform. Yet, NEA keeps supporting Dems who continue to ignore us on the issue of the WEP & GPO.
I could not brelieve it! I paid into Social Security for 20 years. Every year I received a letter from Soc.Sec. with my benefit estimate listed. I, like many others, thought this would be in addition to retirement benefits. Oh yes in tiny print at the bottom it did mention the windfall, I thought a windfall was like a million dollars or some great ammount- not a teacher’s retirement!
I would like to know if congressmen and senators are eligible to receive Soc. Security?
Women are greatly affected by the WEP Offset laws. We are being penalized for being married! We should be able to collect all that we rightfully earned under all systems The survivors SS is reduced by 2/3′s, a big chunk. I feel I am being robbed by my own govenment . I will lose 22 yrs of my work time, half of a working career. This is a double whammy to lose the survivors SS too. Husbands should be outraged! Congress needs to repeal this, before we are forced on welfare!
I don’t think most people realize that teachers are not asking for anything that they did not contribute to in the first place. If a teacher had a previous job in which they participated in social security, they will get little if any social security benefit. If you have a spouse who has contributed throughout his/her life to social security, you would get little if any social security benefit if he/she dies…but if you are not a teacher you would get the complete benefit available to you.
I started working and paying Social Security when I was 15 1/2. When I began teaching I taught at a private school and paid Social Security for 7 years. As I now am looking toward retirement, I cannot even buy back my time in the private school because ALL students attending the school didn’t receive state funding. I lose that time in regards to my Massachusetts Teacher Retirement Benefits and also lose in regards to my Social Security Benefits. I am being penalized twice because I am a teacher.
This video does not make it clear that these government workers did not pay into social security while working for the government. I agree that they should receive social security based on their contributions and only their income from work where they contributed to Social Security. That should not be offset or reduced as it is an earned benefit. I live in a state where we contribute to our government pension and social security. I am thankful for that!
I was a California Highway Patrolman for 28 years but I also worked over 20 years paying into Social Security. I turned 65 in 2009 and my Social Security was cut from just over $700 a month to just over $400 and then Part B is subtracted so I end up with $312 a month for over 20 years of paying into Social Security while I worked in the Air Force, In retail stores, for a member of Congress and I continue to work for California State Parks. If your rep is not supporting us, kick them out.
We all need to contact our legislators. This might be the closest we will ever come to having this unfair law changed.
Most people these days have more than one job during their lifetimes, and one of those jobs will most surely pay into social security. They should know ahead of time that if they go into teaching… into many of the service professions (firefighting, police work) they WILL be penalized. In turn, our country is being penalized… How would many peoples’ votes be affected today if we could learn WHO initiated and passed these bills? My own research has been unable to answer these questions.
I am a retired public teacher in MO and am currently paying into SS as an instructor in a private University. I have paid into SS since I was a teen at various jobs but will never be able to draw that money because MO is one of the states that does not allow me to do so.
I am a teacher getting ready to retire. I am also a widow. My husband paid into SS for many years as I did. I currently receive a widow benefit while I am employed as a teacher. When I retire, I will lose this entire benefit and any benefit I have earned on my own will be substantially reduced. This makes no sense to me and is unfair to me and all other public servants who are affected. This is UNFAIR. I urge all members of Congress to quickly repeal these unfair laws.
After paying SS for 20 years I switched midcareer from a scientist to teach high school science. I love teaching but was shocked to learn about the impact on my retirement! What is the rationale?? We worked we earned it how can congress take it away? Something must be done to set this right!
An unfair law that goes back to the Reagan administration. How many non citizens now receive SSI benefits?
When I retired I learned that these laws applied to me just like they applied to the people in this video. I worked in the private sector and later entered the teaching profession when the call went out to have people with job experience enter the classroom. Now I can’t collect a benefit I had been counting on in retirement. It’s just unfair and not ethically right.