Will WEP elimination in 2025 give me full Social Security benefits with my PERS pension?

You're partly right, but the WEP reform doesn't completely eliminate the reduction. The legislation creates a new proportional formula that will be more favorable than the current WEP calculation, especially for people like you with substantial earnings in both covered and non-covered employment. However, you won't receive 100% of your non-WEP benefit amount. Based on the information you provided (18 years SS-covered work, 30 years non-covered), you'll likely see an increase from your reduced amount, but not all the way to $1,850. The SSA is supposed to implement these changes for benefits payable in 2025. They should recalculate automatically, but I'd recommend calling them about 3 months before you plan to file just to confirm how they'll handle your specific case.

I was in almost the exact same situation (19 years in private sector, 28 years teaching). After struggling for WEEKS to get through to someone at Social Security who actually understood the WEP changes, I finally got some answers. The new formula is basically going to calculate your benefit based on the proportion of your career spent in SS-covered employment. In my case, they estimated my new benefit would be about 40% higher than what I would have received under the old WEP rules. But the MOST frustrating part was trying to reach someone who knew what they were talking about! I spent hours on hold, got disconnected 3 times, and was given wrong information twice before finding someone who could help. I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to a real person at SSA in under 15 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. Totally worth it for complicated situations like WEP where you need to speak with a knowledgeable agent.

you dont need to do anything they will auto recalc for everyone effected by WEP, my brother inlaw works for SSA and said theyre making the system changes now but dont expect anything to be updated on the website til late summer

Be VERY careful about this!!! The WEP reform is NOT a complete elimination! I got excited too when I first heard about it, but after doing my research, I discovered it's just a modification to make it slightly less punitive. SSA is STILL going to take a big chunk of your rightful benefits. Their complex formulas STILL punish us for choosing public service careers. It's absolutely CRIMINAL how they treat teachers, firefighters, and other public servants who paid into Social Security earlier in their careers!!! I suggest contacting your Congressional representative as well. The more of us that push back on this unfair system, the better chance we have of getting REAL reform.

I recently retired with a similar situation (STRS pension plus SS benefits). Here's what I've learned through the process: 1. The WEP reform creates a new proportional formula that calculates your benefit based on your lifetime earnings in both covered and non-covered employment. 2. With 18 years of substantial SS earnings, you'll definitely see an improvement over the old WEP calculation, which was particularly harsh on people with 20-25 years of substantial earnings. 3. Based on the proportional formula and the numbers you shared, my estimate is you might see your benefit increase from $675 to somewhere around $950-1050 per month. 4. SSA will implement these changes automatically, but you should definitely verify your earnings record now to ensure all your covered employment is accurately recorded. 5. The changes take effect for benefits payable January 2025 or later, so if you're claiming in December, your timing is perfect. One more tip: Make sure to file for your SS benefits 3-4 months before you want them to begin. The backlog has been significant lately.

My cousin went through this last year (before the WEP changes) and she said the most important thing is making sure SSA has correct information about your non-covered employment. Apparently they sometimes miscategorize years and it can really mess up the calculation. Just something to watch out for!

I see a lot of confusion in this thread. Let me clarify: The Social Security Administration Windfall Reform Implementation Act doesn't eliminate WEP - it replaces it with a proportional formula that's fairer. Your benefit will be somewhere between the fully reduced WEP amount and your non-WEP benefit, based on the proportion of your career spent in covered employment. With 18 years covered work out of 48 total years (18+30), roughly 37.5% of your career was in covered employment. This would result in a benefit significantly higher than under the old WEP rules, but still somewhat reduced from the full $1,850. The implementation is supposed to be automatic, but the SSA has been notoriously slow with system updates. I would recommend contacting them directly in August/September to ensure everything is on track for your December filing.

dont forget abuot GPO too if ur gonna claim any spousal benefits, thats differnt from WEP and still applies even with the new changes

my neighbor works for our state pension system and she said they've been swamped with questions about this! apparently the state retirement systems don't have any more info than we do right now lol

One important update: Based on the information shared, I ran a quick calculation using what we know about the new proportional formula. With 18 years of substantial earnings under Social Security out of a 48-year career, approximately 37.5% of your career was in covered employment. The new formula will likely result in you keeping about 37.5% of the difference between your WEP-reduced benefit ($675) and your non-WEP benefit ($1,850). So: $675 + (0.375 × ($1,850 - $675)) = approximately $1,116 per month. This is just an estimate based on the general formula, but it gives you a better idea of what to expect. The actual calculation will be more complex and depend on your specific earnings history.