Another important factor: if your wife had 30+ years of "substantial earnings" in SS-covered employment, the WEP wouldn't apply at all. With 21-29 years, there's a reduced penalty. At 15 years, she'll face a more significant reduction, but as others have mentioned, it's not the full $575 maximum WEP reduction. The SSA defines "substantial earnings" differently each year ($30,750 for 2025). Your wife should check her earnings record on MySocialSecurity to see how many qualifying years she has. Also worth noting: If her SS benefit is very low to begin with, she might actually do better filing for a spousal benefit based on your record (assuming you have one), even with the Government Pension Offset applied.

To answer your latest question - yes, she could potentially get a spousal benefit (up to 50% of your FRA benefit) if it's higher than her own WEP-reduced benefit. However, the GPO would reduce that spousal benefit by 2/3 of her government pension. Quick math: If your FRA benefit is $3,100, her potential spousal benefit would be $1,550. But if her government pension is $4,200, the GPO reduction would be $2,800 (2/3 of $4,200). Since $2,800 > $1,550, her spousal benefit would unfortunately be reduced to $0. This is why so many government workers with substantial pensions end up getting little to no spousal benefits. The system is designed to treat them similarly to other workers who pay fully into Social Security throughout their careers. For her own benefit, she should still run the WEP calculator on SSA.gov with her specific years of substantial earnings to get the most accurate estimate.

One more important thing to consider: If her husband passes away while she's still working and earning income, the earnings test would apply to both spousal and survivor benefits if she's under FRA. For 2025, if she earns over $22,320 (estimated), benefits are reduced by $1 for every $2 earned above this limit. This won't affect her after she reaches FRA, but it's something to factor into her decision if she's still working. The reduction isn't permanent though - SSA recalculates and gives credit for these reductions once she reaches FRA.

Thank you everyone for such helpful and thoughtful responses. I spoke with my sister-in-law and she's decided to schedule an appointment with SSA to get the exact benefit amounts for her situation. Given her husband's prognosis and her current financial needs, she's leaning toward taking the reduced spousal benefit now, especially understanding that it won't impact her survivor benefits later. I've helped her make a list of questions to ask and documents to bring. This community has been incredibly helpful during a really difficult time.

One thing nobody's mentioned is she should immediately report this job to SSA if she hasn't already. Not reporting work activity can lead to overpayments that she'll have to pay back later. Better to address this proactively than wait for them to find out during a review.

maybe she could ask the school if she can opt out of the retirement thing? some places let you do that especially for part time workers

this is why the government is so USELESS!!! they send out emails that confuse millions of people and then don't answer the phone. my husbands ben on hold for 3 HOURS today trying to get a simple question answered about his benefits. they say one thing online and another thing when you finally talk to someone. RIDICULOUS!!!

One thing I should add - while you won't receive the 2.5% COLA this January, your benefit amount should still be correct based on the application you submitted. If you applied recently, your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) calculation already includes wage indexing factors that account for inflation up to your eligibility year. If you want to double-check your benefit calculation, you can request a PEBES (earnings statement) from SSA which breaks down how they calculated your benefit amount based on your lifetime earnings. This might give you peace of mind that you're receiving the correct amount even without the COLA.

i heard somewhere that wep and gpo might get eliminated soon has anyone else heard this?

One other thing to consider - if your husband plans to keep working until next April but is reaching FRA before then, make sure he understands the earnings limit doesn't apply once he reaches FRA. My husband didn't realize this and unnecessarily delayed filing for a few months thinking he'd be penalized for his income. Just wanted to mention that in case it's relevant to your situation!