Home Media Center News Releases

Washington, D.C: -- At a Capitol Hill press conference today, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) strongly urged "as a humane step in the right direction" passage of legislation that would help keep some members of the federal workforce from falling into poverty upon their retirement after a lifetime of public service.

NTEU President Robert M. Tobias said that legislation introduced by Rep. William Jefferson (D?La) would modify the Government Pension Offset provisions (GPO) that currently reduce pension benefits for spouses of those who have worked in the service of America's taxpayers.

Under current law, retiree benefits can be sharply curtailed, especially for surviving spouses eligible for both civil service pensions and Social Security spousal benefits. Such Social Security benefits are reduced by two?thirds of the amount of the civil service pension, an impact that is particularly harsh on public servants who worked in lower pay grades.

Tobias, whose union represents more than 155,000 federal employees in 21 agencies and departments, emphasized the devastating impact of the GPO and described such situations as "absurd and punitive."

He cited the case of Joan Lonnemann, a seasonal employee of the Internal Revenue Service at Covington, Ky., for 34 years who, although fully eligible to retire, "simply cannot afford to take that chance."

Tobias said Mrs. Lonnemann's husband, six years her senior, already has retired. Based on his earnings record, she receives a Social Security benefit of $518 per month, and will as long as she continues working. If and when she is forced to retire, all but $18 of that benefit will be wiped out.

The union president explained that if, as expected, Mrs. Lonnemann would receive a monthly government annuity of about $750 for her 34 years of public service, her Social Security spousal benefit would be reduced by two?thirds of that amount??or $500.

"Surely the Government Pension Offset was never intended to wreak this kind of havoc," Tobias said. If Mrs. Lonnemann retires and then outlives her husband, she would be left to live on $768 per month.

"Blindly applying a law [such as GPO] without regard to the economic hardship it causes is difficult to justify," Tobias said. "This is precisely the situation Congressman Jefferson looks to rectify with his legislation."

Rep. Jefferson introduced a version of this legislation in the last Congress, as did Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D?Md). More than 100 House members are co?sponsors of the Jefferson bill.