Thursday March 04, 2004

Loophole closes, Mandatory notice to begin in 2005

HR 743 was signed by the President on March 2nd (2004) and closes the last day loophole that educators used to avoid the Government Pension Offset (for details see my website). It also required that employers whose employees don't pay into Social Security (read School Districts) must provide written notice to all new employees and have them sign a statement acknowledging that they understand the GPO & WEP and its affects, this must be in place by January 1st, 2005.

While the NEA and AFT are fighting for outright repeal of the provisions it is clear by the passage of this legislation that nobody is really listening. I suspect a lot of congressmen and women are giving lipservice to these provisions, but in reality they know they can't support them because the cost is too high and social security is already in trouble. Don't expect a repeal anytime soon, don't plan on recieving social security - if you does get repealed, then guess what - You will have some extra money in retirement, just don't count on it!

ScottyD