The US Social Security Fairness Act, according to the Administration in charge of managing these matters, is a measure that puts an end to the elimination of the windfall and the government pension adjustment. Thus, these provisions reduce or eliminate the benefits of Social Security for more than 3.2 million people who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by the US Social Security agency itself.
Thus, this recently passed law increases Social Security benefits for certain types of working people. However, only people who receive a pension based on work not covered by Social Security can see increases in benefits under this new law. The majority of state and municipal public employees, around 72%, work in jobs covered by Social Security and are not affected by the WEP or GPO. Therefore, the Fairness Act increases Social Security benefits for certain types of employees:
- Teachers, firefighters and police officers in many states.
- Federal employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System; and
- People whose work had been covered by a social insurance system of another country.
More than a year to receive the SSA increase
According to the US Administration, “the ability of the SSA to implement the law in a timely manner and without negatively affecting day-to-day customer service depends on funding”. Therefore, although the institutions are working to resolve this measure as soon as possible, the truth is that the future of many American workers is far off in being able to benefit from this law. In fact, although the SSA is helping some affected beneficiaries now, with the current budget, “the SSA expects that it could take more than a year to adjust the benefits and pay all the retroactive benefits,” they have announced.
Therefore, the reasons for this slowness on the part of the American Social Security derive from the current shortage of personnel, aggravated by a freeze on hiring since November 2024, which will make the task of serving people “more difficult,” the SSA says. Likewise, all Social Security beneficiaries, including those not affected by the new law, will face delays and longer wait times as the SSA deals with the new workload, according to the agency.
United States Equity Act
The Social Security Equity Act, signed into law in December by former President Joe Biden, extends benefits to millions of people by eliminating two federal policies that prohibited employees with a public pension from collecting their full benefits under the federal retirement program and that reduced benefits for the surviving spouses and family members of those workers. Therefore, some people’s benefits will increase very little, while others may have to pay more than $1,000 more per month.
Finally, according to the Administration, all applicants for this new social benefit must meet the conditions established by the Social Security and keep their personal details up to date, especially their name and address. In addition, they will be required to present a series of documents that prove that the beneficiaries do indeed meet the White House’s requirements for access to these benefits.