Social Security WEP penalties hitting my teacher pension - worth hiring an attorney to fight it?

Unfortunately, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) is completely legal and affects many public employees including teachers. It reduces your Social Security benefits if you receive a pension from work not covered by Social Security (like many teacher pensions). There are some exceptions, but they're very limited - for example, if you have 30+ years of "substantial earnings" under Social Security, the WEP doesn't apply at all, and it's reduced with 21-29 years. An attorney probably can't change the application of WEP in your case unless SSA made a calculation error or you actually qualify for an exception they missed.

This happened to my dad too!!! He was a firefighter and got hit with both WEP and GPO (that's the other one that affects spouses). He tried fighting it but got nowhere. The whole system is RIGGED against public servants!

I went through this exact situation last year. You can actually calculate exactly how much WEP is reducing your benefit using the SSA's WEP calculator: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/anyPiaWepjs04.html Before hiring an attorney, request a detailed breakdown of your benefit calculation from SSA in writing. Ask specifically for your PIA (Primary Insurance Amount) before and after WEP reduction. Sometimes they miscalculate the number of "substantial earnings" years, which affects the WEP penalty. In my case, they missed 2 years where I had enough earnings, which reduced my WEP penalty by about $175/month. I didn't need an attorney - just had to provide proof of those earnings.

my brother hired a attorney for this exact thing last year and he said it was a waste of $3000... the lawer just told him what he already knew from google searches

I've been trying to reach Social Security for WEEKS about my own WEP situation. Every time I call, I'm on hold for 2+ hours and then often get disconnected. When I finally got through, the person couldn't even access my records because "the system was down". Tried making an in-person appointment, but they're booked 3 months out! I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to a live agent in about 15 minutes instead of hours. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU Once I actually spoke with an experienced SSA agent, they explained that my WEP reduction was calculated correctly. But at least I got a clear explanation of exactly how many years of substantial earnings I had (27) and how that affected my reduction. Saved me from wasting money on an attorney when nothing could be changed in my case.

Teacher here who's also affected by WEP. Before considering an attorney, review these specific points: 1. The WEP reduction is capped at 50% of your non-covered pension amount 2. If you have more than 20 years of substantial earnings under Social Security, the WEP reduction gets smaller with each additional year 3. At 30+ years of substantial earnings, WEP doesn't apply at all What most attorneys will do is simply review your earnings history to see if any years were missed in your substantial earnings calculation. You can do this yourself by creating a my Social Security account and downloading your earnings history. For 2023, "substantial earnings" means you earned at least $29,700 in SS-covered employment. This amount is lower for previous years. The reason your Social Security statement didn't show the WEP reduction is because SSA doesn't know about your non-covered pension until you apply for benefits. This is a common complaint.

ya the windfall act is so unfair!!! i worked 2 jobs my hole life and now they take away what i earned!

One important thing to check: look at Form SSA-44 to see if you qualify for an adjustment to your Medicare IRMAA premiums too. Many teachers facing WEP also get hit with higher Medicare premiums because their income seems to "drop" at retirement. You can request a reduction in these premiums based on work stoppage. As for attorneys - they're really only useful for disability claims. For retirement benefits and WEP issues, they can rarely do more than what you can do yourself with proper research. The rules are quite fixed.

Have u tried contacting your congressional representative? My friend is a retired police officer who had issues with WEP and his congress person's office helped straighten it out. They have staff who specifically handle SS problems!

After learning about how WEP works, I discovered that SSA had missed some of my substantial earnings years from when I worked summers during my teaching career. I was able to get my WEP reduction decreased by providing proof of those earnings. The WEP formula provides a 5% reduction in the penalty for each year of substantial earnings over 20 years, so each additional year you can document is worth fighting for.