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litgoddess.
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...you may not be eligible to collect a spouse's benefits upon his/her death, and you will lose almost 2/3 of whatever benefits you have earned.
Oh hell no.
litgoddess.Teachers are required to pay into social security like everyone else, except we are excluded from receiving most of what we pay in -- this is true for many civil servants. You could help change that!
Social Security and Teachers
Even though you are a teacher who pays into the State Teachers' Retirement System, you may also do consulting work or other jobs for which social security taxes are deducted. Or you may have a spouse who pays into the social security system.
What you may not know is that there are two federal laws that could cost you a significant portion of those taxes that you and/or your spouse paid into the system. They are the Government Pension Offset (http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/1007.html) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/1045.html). These are both under Title II of the Social Security Act, and they state that as a teacher who will be collecting a pension from a public agency, you may not be eligible to collect a spouse's benefits upon his/her death, and you will lose almost 2/3 of whatever benefits you have earned.
Senator Dianne Feinstein has determined that under current law, public employees are penalized and held to a different standard when it comes to retirement benefits, and this inequity also makes it difficult to recruit teachers, firefighters, and other public employees.
She has introduced the Social Security Fairness Act (S. 206) aimed at eliminating the WEP and GPO provisions of the Social Security Act.
How can you can help support this effort?
1) Call Senator Baucus (D-Montana), finance Committee Chair, at (202) 224-2651 and Senator Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Finance Committee, at (202) 224-3744 and tell them you support the Social Security Fairness Act (S. 206). Please call now.
2) Help get this information out to everyone you know, especially fellow teachers, police officers, railroad workers, and fire fighters - anyone you know who would be willing to make two phone calls on our behalf.
....
...you may not be eligible to collect a spouse's benefits upon his/her death, and you will lose almost 2/3 of whatever benefits you have earned.
Oh hell no.
