When FERS came into being I worked for the VA but no one could explain well so I stayed with CSA. My husband who had paid full SS for 40 years died suddenly. I was told as my govt retirement went up I got less SS so I retired at 61 with 25 years. 24 years later I get $1500 per month retirement and $274. SS. Whenever we get a raise they threaten to reduce my SS. I got $29 more per month this year and nothing on SS. This practice is so unfair to widows and has not stopped the double dippers making big bucks. It's almost too late for me (85 years old) but think it should be stopped. I did pay into SS as a young woman but not enough. Look forward to your answer.

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

The issue that you're referring to is the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision, which can cause Social Security widow's benefits to be offset by 2/3rds of the gross amount that the widow receives from a government pension based on their work and earnings that were exempt from Social Security taxes (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf). Obviously I don't have access to all of the facts of your case, but nothing that you've described leads me to believe that GPO has been incorrectly applied in your case.

Unfortunately, I doubt if there's anything you could do to change matters at this point, and there may not have been much if anything different that you could have done in the past to better your situation. Bills are introduced in Congress virtually every session proposing repeal of the GPO and WEP provisions (e.g. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1205), but no such bills have been given serious consideration in the past 30+ years, nor do I think it's likely that they will in the foreseeable future.

I'm sorry that I don't have any more helpful information to offer you.

Best, Jerry