Does Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) still apply at Full Retirement Age (67) with state pension?

Unfortunately, waiting until Full Retirement Age doesn't eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision. WEP applies regardless of when you claim your Social Security benefits - whether it's early at 62, at your FRA of 67, or even delayed until 70. The only ways to reduce or eliminate WEP are: 1. Having 30+ years of substantial earnings under Social Security 2. The WEP guarantee that your reduction cannot exceed 50% of your non-covered pension amount With 22 quarters, you're only at about 5.5 years of Social Security coverage, so you'd definitely face the WEP reduction. The good news is that with some substantial earnings years, you might qualify for a partial reduction of the WEP penalty.

my brother in law got hit with this last year. he was FURIOUS when he found out how little his SS check was gonna be. had like 25 years teaching in oregon and maybe 8 years doing construction work before that. his SS check is tiny compared to what the calculator estimated.

You're confusing two important things here. You need 40 quarters (10 years) of work under Social Security to qualify for ANY retirement benefit. With only 22 quarters, you aren't currently eligible for Social Security retirement benefits at all, regardless of the WEP issue. If you could get 18 more quarters of Social Security-covered employment (about 4.5 more years of work), then you'd qualify for benefits, but they would indeed be reduced by WEP since you'd still be well under the 30 years needed to avoid WEP completely. Also, waiting until your FRA would give you your full benefit amount (as reduced by WEP), but it won't eliminate the WEP reduction itself. Your coworker might be confusing WEP with the earnings test, which does go away at FRA.

The whole WEP thing is such a SCAM!!! I worked for the postal service for 27 years and had 8 years in the private sector. My SS benefit got cut by over $400/month because of this ridiculous provision. They're basically STEALING money we paid into the system. It's criminal how they treat public servants. CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON and demand they repeal this unfair law!!!

Try calling the SSA to get a clearer picture of your situation. I had a similar question and spent 3 days trying to get through. Finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to connect with an agent within 20 minutes. Their video demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU shows how it works. The agent was able to run my numbers and show me exactly how much WEP would reduce my benefit with my specific earnings record. Turns out in my case even with WEP, it was still worth claiming the small benefit.

To your original question - you're absolutely right that you need 40 quarters (10 years) of Social Security-covered employment to qualify for retirement benefits. If you're at 22 quarters now, you'd need 18 more, which means about 4.5 more years of work where you pay into Social Security. If you do get those 40 quarters and qualify, your benefit would still be reduced by WEP because of your state pension. The reduction is most severe if you have under 20 years of substantial earnings. Each year of substantial earnings you have between 20-30 years reduces the WEP penalty gradually. Since you said you have 23 years in state government, I'm assuming most or all of that was non-covered employment (not paying into Social Security). So you'd need to figure out how many years of substantial earnings under Social Security you actually have.

Something else to consider - even if you get your 40 quarters and qualify for Social Security retirement benefits (reduced by WEP), you should also check if the Government Pension Offset (GPO) might affect any potential spousal or survivor benefits you might be eligible for. GPO is separate from WEP and reduces spousal/survivor benefits by 2/3 of your government pension amount. These provisions can be quite complex, so it might be worth consulting with a financial advisor who specializes in federal benefits before finalizing your retirement plans. The SSA's WEP calculator can also help you estimate the impact: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/anyPiaWepjs04.html