Field note
Social Security · 6 min read
WEP and GPO are gone. What changes for Long Island public-sector retirees.
The Social Security Fairness Act, signed January 5, 2025, repealed both the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset effective for January 2024 benefits. NYSTRS, NYCTRS, NYSLRS, NYCERS, NYC Police, and FDNY retirees who were hit by these provisions are now receiving full Social Security benefits plus retroactive payments.
By Dan Zimon · April 26, 2026
On January 5, 2025, the Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law. It repealed both the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), effective for benefits payable for January 2024 onward. For most Long Island public-sector retirees who were hit by either provision, this is the largest single change in their retirement income picture in a generation.
What WEP and GPO did before
The Windfall Elimination Provision reduced Social Security benefits for workers who also received a pension from employment not covered by Social Security taxes. For NY public-sector retirees, this most often hit those with mixed careers — for example, a teacher who also had Social Security-covered employment in summers or before/after teaching. WEP applied a modified PIA formula that produced a smaller monthly benefit than the standard formula would have produced on the same earnings record.
The Government Pension Offset was harsher: it reduced spousal and survivor Social Security benefits by two-thirds of the non-covered pension. For a NYSTRS retiree whose spouse had a substantial Social Security record, GPO commonly eliminated the spousal benefit entirely. For widows and widowers with their own non-covered pension, it eliminated the survivor benefit entirely in many cases.
What changed in 2025
Both provisions are gone. Effective for benefits payable for January 2024, neither WEP nor GPO applies. Retirees who were affected are now receiving the full Social Security benefit calculated under the standard formulas, and retroactive payments for the months between January 2024 and the effective date of their increase have been processed in waves throughout 2025.
Practically, this means: a Long Island NYSTRS retiree who had been receiving (say) $850/month in Social Security under WEP may now be receiving $1,400/month — a roughly $550/month permanent increase plus a retroactive payment covering the period back to January 2024. A surviving spouse who had been receiving zero spousal or survivor Social Security under GPO may now be receiving the full unreduced benefit.
Who's affected on Long Island
- NYSTRS retirees with any Social Security-covered earnings outside teaching (summer jobs, prior careers, second jobs) — historically subject to WEP
- NYCTRS retirees in similar situations
- NYSLRS-ERS and NYSLRS-PFRS retirees with mixed careers
- NYCERS retirees with prior covered employment
- NYC Police and FDNY retirees with covered employment outside the uniformed service
- Any spouse or survivor of the above whose own Social Security spousal or survivor benefit was zeroed out by GPO
What you should do
If you were affected by WEP or GPO before 2024, you should already be receiving updated benefit information from the Social Security Administration. The SSA has been processing the retroactive payments and updated monthly benefits in tranches; if you have not yet seen an adjustment but believe you were affected, contact SSA directly at 1-800-772-1213 or at your local field office. Updated benefit estimates are also available through your my Social Security account at ssa.gov.
From a planning perspective: a sudden increase in Social Security income shifts the household tax picture. The taxability of Social Security benefits depends on combined income; if your monthly increase moved you from the 50% taxable tier into the 85% taxable tier, the year-end tax bill needs adjustment. Retroactive payments are taxed in the year received, not the year for which they apply, which can also push a household into a higher bracket for the year of receipt.
For households that had already filed for Social Security with WEP or GPO factored in, the calculation is automatic. For households still planning the claim — particularly with public-sector pensions — the key change is that the previous mental model ("WEP will reduce my SS by X") no longer applies. The full SSA formulas are now in effect, and claiming-strategy decisions should be made on the unreduced numbers.
What this changes for the household plan
The repeal increases lifetime household Social Security income for affected retirees by a meaningful margin — often $100,000–$300,000 in additional cumulative benefits over a 30-year retirement, depending on the household's specific profile. That raises the income floor and reshapes the rest of the planning conversation: Roth conversion windows, pension-election sequencing, taxable-account drawdown order. Camba's pension calculator and Social Security calculator both assume no WEP/GPO reduction, reflecting current law.