Home Media Center News Releases

Washington, D.C. – The nation’s largest independent union of federal employees is calling on Congress to rescind the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), two provisions of federal law which unfairly target tens of thousands of retired federal workers and their families.

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) supports the Social Security Fairness Act of 2007, introduced last month in the House by Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), and in the Senate by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). The House bill, H.R. 82, has 182 bipartisan co-sponsors.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley welcomed the legislation, calling it “long overdue” and “in the best interests of all federal employees.” With a federal retirement wave expected, continuation of the GPO unfairly penalizes government pension recipients who also are eligible for Social Security benefits based on a spouse’s work record.

“These unfair provisions reduce the spousal Social Security benefit by two-thirds of the amount of the government pension,” Kelley said. “In many cases it entirely eliminates the Social Security benefit a federal retiree would be entitled to receive.”

The GPO penalizes a person’s decision to enter public service, Kelley added, since it does not apply to individuals who collect private pension benefits and who also are eligible for spousal Social Security. The Social Security Administration (SSA) estimates that more than 300,000 former federal workers have had their Social Security payments reduced as a result of the GPO.

It also has a particularly harsh impact on female federal retirees. “Many women are eligible for smaller federal pensions than their male counterparts due to career interruptions that arose from raising their children or due to the fact many worked in lower-paid positions in the federal government,” President Kelley said.

The WEP’s impact is harsh as well, causing the Social Security benefits of more than 600,000 federal retirees to be reduced by nearly 50 percent. SSA estimates that number will grow by about 10 percent a year. Under current law, employees eligible both for their own earned Social Security benefit and a public pension, such as those under the federal Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), can find a substantially lower benefit formula applied to the Social Security portion.

On Jan. 30, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), introduced legislation, H.R. 726, the Windfall Elimination Provision Relief Act of 2007. This bill, which also has drawn NTEU support, would restrict application of the WEP to only those individuals whose monthly pension income exceeds $2,500 and could provide some relief.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union and represents about 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments.