I retired from my Public Employee Job (city building inspector) in December 2001. I had 11 years in the position and was eligible for a New Mexico Public Employee Retirement pension. I was also 62 and eligible for Social Security and was advised to take early SS benefits from SSA. I did so and my SS checks were figured at $850 per month, much less than my friends who had also worked over 30 years paying into SS. Recently I heard my monthly SS was decreased because of my 11 years as a public employee. I paid into SS 33 years and receive less than half my friends' checks. I do not think that is fair. What can I do - ? Anything? Is there any amendment to the SS regulations to dispute this? Thanks

Hi,

What you're referring to is the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which can result in a lower retirement benefit rate for people who receive a pension based on their work and earnings that were exempt from Social Security taxes. However, if you have at least 30 years of Social Security covered work that were high enough to be defined as 'substantial' under the provision, then you would be exempt from any WEP reduction. Or, if you have between 20 to 30 years of 'substantial' earnings, the impact of WEP would be reduced. A list of the yearly amounts of 'substantial' earnings can be found in this Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf.

In all likelihood you are receiving the correct benefit rate, but you could ask Social Security to recompute your benefit rate. It sounds like it would be too late for you to file a formal appeal, though(https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10041.pdf).

Bills proposing repeal of the WEP provision are introduced in virtually every session of Congress (e.g. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1205), but they almost never advance beyond the committee level. You may want to call or write the office of your congressional representative to weigh in on this issue.

Best, Jerry