U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH) called for fair Social Security benefits for Ohio teachers, police officers and firefighters in an op-ed published last week.
“Ohio teachers, police officers, firefighters and other public workers play an integral role in our communities and should be commended for their devotion to public service,” Renacci said. “Many of our public servants, however, are unfairly treated by the Social Security Administration if they had also spent part of their career in the private sector contributing to the Social Security Trust Fund.”
A worker’s earnings are used to determine Social Security benefits, with the formula designed so that lower lifetime earners are given a higher replacement rate than higher lifetime earners. Teachers, police officers, firefights and other public workers, however, often receive income that is not “covered” by Social Security. Working both in the private sector for a job that contributes to Social Security and in a job that does not contribute to Social Security results in lifetime earnings appearing significantly lower.
“The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) tries to correct this problem, but it is an arbitrary, one-size-fits-all approach that is just unfair for American workers, resulting in many Ohioans losing hundreds of dollars in benefits per month,” Renacci wrote. “While WEP may impact every state, the state of Ohio has more than 120,000 people who are subject to the WEP, trailing only behind the significantly larger states of California and Texas. This is due to the state having multiple pension funds that pre-date Social Security and whose members do not have income that contributes to Social Security.”
Renacci, in response, has voiced his support for the Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act of 2015, H.R. 711, which would offer a replacement WEP to treat all workers fairly while providing relief from WEP beginning in 2017.
“While efforts have been made both at the state and federal level to better educate individuals impacted by WEP, still many retirees do not realize that they will lose benefits due to WEP until their first benefit check,” Renacci wrote. “We need to fix the unfair reductions hardworking Americans are seeing in their Social Security benefits. I look forward to working with my colleagues and am hopeful that Congress is able to pass this bipartisan legislation and provide relief to our children’s teachers and local safety officials.”