United States House and Senate Pass Social Security Fairness Act – And President Biden is Expected to Sign it Into Law – Eliminating Unfair Penalties for City of San Diego Retirees and Future Retirees

Over the weekend, in the wee hours of the final week of work for this term of the United States Senate, the chamber voted overwhelmingly to effectively increase Social Security benefits for about 3 million federal, state and local public sector workers – including City of San Diego retirees and future retirees – who are eligible for Social Security benefits because of credits earned working for other employers during their lifetime.

The Senate vote follows passage in the House of Representatives several weeks ago, both with rare bipartisan supermajorities in support.  When the legislation is signed into law by President Biden, it will apply to earned Social Security benefits in the future and retroactive benefits going back to January 2024.

The Social Security Fairness Act eliminates policies (the “Windfall Elimination Program” and “Government Pension Offset”) that reduced Social Security benefits for many public service employees, including City of San Diego retirees.

These policies caused the Social Security allowance of retirees to be cut – sometimes substantially – if the retiree is also collecting a public sector pension.  The workers affected are those who are eligible for government pensions from jobs where they didn’t pay into Social Security, but who did pay into the program through other jobs or whose spouses did so.

Social Security retirement benefits (and spousal and survivor benefits) are earned if a worker pays into Social Security for at least 10 years.  City of San Diego workers do not pay into Social Security and therefore no credits are earned while working for the City.  But many City employees will work other jobs during their career that are Social Security-eligible, and these are the employees who will benefit from this change.

This legislation has been pursued by some members of Congress since 2003, with success finally achieved just in time for the Holidays in 2024 😊.  So with this somewhat miraculous bipartisan leap forward in mind, we wish everyone a Happy Holiday season, and here’s to a healthy and prosperous 2025.