Will new SS benefit increase law affect WEP reduction for PERA retirees?

I hate to disappoint you, but I haven't seen anything in the new legislation that addresses the Windfall Elimination Provision or Government Pension Offset. These provisions have been a thorn in the side of many public employees for decades, and unfortunately, they remain in effect. The WEP will still reduce your Social Security benefit if you receive a pension from work where you didn't pay Social Security taxes (like your PERA employment). Congress has introduced bills to reform or eliminate WEP/GPO many times, but they haven't passed yet.

my neighbor has the same issue with calpers and SS... she says the wep reduction is brutal, takes like 40% of what her ss would normally be! its so unfair when people paid into both systems!

The WEP reduction isn't quite as simple as a straight percentage cut. The reduction is based on a modified formula that affects your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA). Generally, the reduction can't exceed 50% of your non-covered pension amount. Also, if you have 30+ years of substantial earnings under Social Security, the WEP doesn't apply at all. With 20-29 years of substantial earnings, there's a partial reduction. You can check your situation using the WEP calculator on SSA's website: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/anyPiaWepjs04.html

THEY WILL NEVER CHANGE THE WEP!!!! I've been fighting this battle for 15 years since I retired from teaching. Every year some congressman introduces a bill to repeal WEP/GPO and every year it dies in committee. Meanwhile us public servants get SCREWED out of benefits we PAID FOR. The whole system is RIGGED against us!!!

I've been dealing with this exact situation - I have PERA from Colorado and also qualify for SS. After struggling to get accurate info, I finally got through to a knowledgeable SS rep using Claimyr (claimyr.com). They got me connected to SSA in about 20 minutes when I'd been trying for weeks. The agent explained exactly how my WEP reduction was calculated and helped me understand what to expect. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - definitely worth it when dealing with complicated situations like WEP/GPO that most people don't understand.

My wife had this PERA/SS issue. If you have at least 30 years of substantial earnings under Social Security, the WEP doesn't apply at all. she had 32 years so was totally exempt from WEP. how many years did you pay into SS?

One important thing to understand about WEP is that it's designed to prevent "double-dipping," not to punish public employees. The regular Social Security benefit formula is weighted to give lower-income workers a higher percentage of their pre-retirement earnings. Without WEP, people with pensions from non-covered employment would appear to SS as lower-income workers (since their PERA earnings don't show up in SS records) and would receive this more favorable calculation despite actually having good retirement income from their government pension. That said, many argue the implementation is too harsh and needs reform.

Can I ask what state you're in? My understanding is that some states have tried to offset the WEP effect for their public employees. I think Texas has some kind of program that gives back some of what people lose to WEP, but I'm not 100% sure how it works.

For those interested in current legislative efforts, there are two main bills that have been introduced to address WEP: The Social Security Fairness Act (which would fully repeal both WEP and GPO) and the Public Servants Protection and Fairness Act (which would modify WEP with a new formula). The fairness act has more cosponsors but the Protection act is seen as more fiscally feasible. Neither has passed yet, but you can contact your representatives to express support.

ive heard that if you work after you start getting your pension like a parttime job that pays into ss it can help reduce the wep penalty over time is that true??