New law repeals Social Security limits for public workers

Roughly 2.5 million public-sector workers started 2025 with great and long-awaited news that two laws limiting their Social Security benefits have been repealed.

Passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden, the Social Security Fairness Act, repealing the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). The first bill reduced benefits for some spouses and widows who also have their own government pensions. The second bill reduced benefits for some individuals who receive pensions and whose employers didn’t withhold Social Security taxes.

“This has been a terrible and unfair burden on retired public employees and getting rid of these provisions is a victory for them and for the unions and other advocates who’ve fought for 40 years to fix it,” said Tim Hill, president of the Alliance for Prosperity and a Secure Retirement. “This will make an enormous difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.”

According to the Congressional Research Service, 322,129 beneficiaries were affected by both provisions, and cited studies that said those people “tended to have lower average Social Security benefits and household wealth” than beneficiaries who were subject to only one of the limits.

“The Congressional Budget Office in September estimated that eliminating the WEP would increase monthly benefits in December 2025 by $360, on average, for affected beneficiaries, and eliminating the GPO would increase monthly benefits in December 2025 by an average of $700 for 380,000 spouses and by an average of $1,190 for 390,000 surviving spouses,” Pensions & Investments reported.

And CNBC reported that more than 2.5 million beneficiaries will receive lump-sum payment for what they would have received in 2024 without those limits in place.

Labor groups representing public employees have worked for years to eliminate the limits.

“After 40 years of being treated like second-class citizens, a wrong has finally been righted, and millions of retirees can afford to retire with dignity — and with the Social Security benefits they earned and paid into,” said Edward Kelly, International Association of Fire Fighters general president.

In the end, the legislation passed with support from members of both political parties, winning 76 votes in the U.S. Senate and 327 in the U.S. House before going to the president for his signature.