Is WEP officially dead or still affecting my SS retirement benefits in 2025?

Unfortunately, WEP is still very much alive in 2025. The Social Security Fairness Act that would repeal WEP (and GPO) has gained substantial bipartisan support, but it hasn't been enacted into law yet. The main holdup is the estimated $150 billion cost of full repeal over a 10-year period. If you're filing this year with 30+ years of substantial earnings in SS-covered employment, WEP's impact is already reduced. With less than 30 years, your SS retirement benefit will be reduced by up to $625/month in 2025 (the maximum WEP reduction). And yes, if WEP were repealed after you start receiving benefits, SSA would recalculate and increase your monthly payment going forward.

EVERYONE KEEPS SAYING WEP REPEAL IS COMING!!!! I've been hearing this same garbage since 2019 when I retired from my firefighting job. The truth is Congress doesn't care about us public servants who get punished for working TWO careers. I've lost over $21,000 in SS benefits over 5 years waiting for this so-called "repeal" that never happens. Don't hold your breath!!! They talk big before elections then forget all about it.

There's actually a compromise solution making progress right now called the Public Servants Protection and Fairness Act. Instead of full repeal, it creates a new proportional formula that would give partial relief, especially to lower and middle-income workers affected by WEP. The Congressional Budget Office estimates it would cost significantly less than full repeal. If you want to calculate your potential benefit under the different proposals, check the SSA WEP calculator on the SSA.gov website. Then call your representatives! The more they hear from affected constituents, the more likely action becomes.

I spent literally 3 weeks trying to reach Social Security to get a clear answer on my WEP situation (similar to yours, teacher pension + part-time retail work). Kept getting disconnected or told wait times were 4+ hours. Finally tried Claimyr.com and got through to an agent in 20 minutes! They have this service where they wait on hold and call you when an agent picks up. There's a demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU showing how it works. The agent confirmed WEP is still in effect but explained how my specific calculation would work. Worth it just to get a definitive answer based on YOUR work history instead of general info.

WEP isn't dead but theres a important thing you should know if your close to filing. You can use the RESTRICTED APPLICATION STRATEGY if your turning 62 before 2025 ends!!! This lets you maybe claim spousal benefits first (if ur married) and then switch to your own retirement later. This can help minimize the WEP impact depending on your specific situation. My financial advisor showed me this trick and it made a huge difference.

my uncle had same problem and he said the best thing is just delay taking SS until 70 if you can live on your pension alone. that way even with WEP you get the maximum possible SS benefit plus the 8% per year delayed retirement credits. he says WEP still sucks but hurts less percentage-wise when u maximize your benefit amount

To answer your original question about what's holding up WEP reform, it comes down to three main factors: 1. Cost - full repeal is expensive and Congress struggles with the budget impact 2. Complexity - creating a fair alternative formula that doesn't overcorrect is technically challenging 3. Awareness - despite affecting ~2 million beneficiaries, WEP doesn't have widespread public awareness The most promising path forward is the compromise legislation that maintains some form of reduction but makes it more proportional to your actual earnings history. Both parties generally agree WEP is flawed, but they differ on how to fix it. The current formula is particularly unfair to lower-income workers with mixed earnings histories.

After spending 3 YEARS fighting with SSA about my WEP calculation, I FINALLY got somewhere by contacting my Congresswoman's office. Her constituent services staff has liaisons who work directly with SSA regional offices and can sometimes get better results than we can on our own. Worth a try if you've exhausted other options.

One final important note - if you decide to keep working in Social Security-covered employment, you can potentially reduce your WEP penalty over time. For each additional year of substantial earnings (currently about $30,000/year), the WEP reduction amount decreases. If you eventually reach 30 years of substantial earnings, the WEP penalty is eliminated entirely, even without congressional action. If you're close to another year of substantial earnings, it might be worth continuing part-time work to reach that threshold. The WEP reduction decreases by 5% for each year of substantial earnings above 20 years.

I'm in a similar boat - retired from state government with a pension and now trying to navigate this WEP mess. One thing I learned that might help is to request your complete earnings record from SSA (Form SSA-7050-F4) to verify they have all your covered employment correctly recorded. I found they were missing two years of my part-time work which actually bumped me up from 19 to 21 years of substantial earnings, reducing my WEP penalty. Also, if you're married and your spouse has higher Social Security benefits, you might want to run the numbers on spousal benefits vs. your own reduced benefit. Sometimes the spousal benefit (which isn't affected by WEP) can be higher than your WEP-reduced retirement benefit, especially in the early claiming years. The whole system is incredibly frustrating, but getting your exact numbers with all earnings properly credited is the first step to making the best decision for your situation.

As someone who just went through this exact situation last year, I can confirm WEP is unfortunately still very much in effect in 2025. I'm a retired teacher with 24 years of substantial SS earnings from summer jobs and substitute work, and my SS benefit got whacked by about $480/month due to WEP. Here's what I wish I'd known earlier: definitely get your complete earnings statement from SSA to verify they have all your covered employment recorded correctly. I discovered they were missing three years of my retail work during summers, which moved me from 21 to 24 years and reduced my WEP penalty. Also, since you're turning 62, you have some time to potentially add more substantial earnings years if you can manage part-time work. At 22 years, each additional year would reduce your penalty by 5%. Even one more year could save you hundreds per month for life. The waiting game on Congressional action is brutal, but planning around current law while hoping for future relief seems like the most realistic approach. Good luck navigating this mess!

I'm in a very similar situation and really appreciate all the detailed responses here! As someone who's been following WEP reform efforts closely, I wanted to add that the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82/S. 393) actually passed the House in late 2023 with strong bipartisan support but stalled in the Senate due to concerns about the $196 billion price tag over 10 years. The compromise bill mentioned earlier - the Public Servants Protection and Fairness Act - is indeed more realistic because it provides substantial relief while costing significantly less. It would replace the current WEP formula with a proportional one that's fairer to people with mixed earnings histories like teachers and firefighters. For anyone affected by this, I'd strongly recommend joining advocacy groups like the National Association of Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) or calling your senators directly. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and sustained pressure from constituents really does influence legislative priorities. We're closer to meaningful WEP reform than we've ever been, but it's going to take continued advocacy to get it across the finish line.