By Pamela Casey Nagler and Marcella Zita | Special to the Courier

Despite chaos and disruption in our federal government, circumstances have recently improved in some areas for many California public school teachers — including in Claremont — along with some other government workers.

On January 5 then President Biden signed into law the Social Security Fairness Act that repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. In the past, the Windfall Elimination Provision penalized workers who received a public pension, even though they contributed to Social Security when they worked in the private sector. The Government Pension Offset disallowed the public workers who did not contribute to Social Security in their public job from receiving spousal benefits.

For more than 40 years, some public employees in some states who did not contribute to Social Security, including public school teachers, firefighters, postal workers, police officers and other government employees, have seen their Social Security benefits reduced or eliminated even though they and/or their spouse paid into Social Security.

This repeal has been long in coming. The Senate began holding its first hearings on this issue in 2003, but this congressional season, both the House and the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of repeal. It was a rare gesture of bipartisan support. The House vote was 327-75, the Senate 76-20.

Every public worker who has been adversely affected by the WEP and GPO has a story to tell. Some of the most lamentable come from those who worked low-income public jobs or for a limited time at a public job and experienced the disappearance of their spouses’ Social Security benefits upon their death. Every other worker in the U.S. was eligible for spousal benefits save for this subset of public workers. Mid-career government workers who did not have time to earn a full government pension also saw their retirement compromised by the WEP and GPO.

In all, about 3.2 million government workers will benefit from the Social Security Fairness Act right now. The WEP and GPO disproportionately impacted women and low income workers. And the single largest demographic adversely affected was California public school teachers.

California as a whole also benefits from the Social Security Fairness Act. This is money that is likely to circulate in our local economies. It also made recruiting good teachers a little bit easier, as private sector workers who have wanted to go into California public school teaching can now afford to do so without compromising their retirement. A teacher in a state like Oregon, where teachers contribute to Social Security, can now afford to move and take a public school teaching job in California, where teachers do not contribute to Social Security, without fear of penalty to their retirement income. And all California’s public school teachers can now expect to be beneficiaries of their own and their spouse’s contributions to Social Security and can plan their retirement accordingly. The repeal allows for the kind of fluidity in the workplace that is more in alignment with the realities of modern life.

Restoring full Social Security benefits sends a strong message that government work is valued and respected. And, repealing the GPO and WEP will go a long way toward restoring trust in Social Security — something necessary to keep it strong for future generations.

Critics of the Social Security Fairness Act say this repeal places more strain on an already stressed system. A simple solution is simply to raise the cap. Right now, contributions to Social Security are capped at $176,100 gross income earnings. This means income excess of $176,100 is not subject to Social Security withholdings. A billionaire like Elon Musk contributes no more to Social Security than a modestly paid engineer. By simply raising this cap and taxing our highest income earners, Social Security could remain solvent for years to come.

Pamela Casey Nagler is a retired California public school teacher who has lobbied for Social Security fairness for more than two decades.

Marcella Zita has taught in California public schools for 28 years and has campaigned for Social Security fairness for many years.