Could Force House Floor Vote for WEP/GPO Repeal" />On December 9, President Biden signed into law the First Responder Fair RETIRE Act, H.R. 521. This law allows disabled federal first responders who sustained an injury or illness on the job to maintain their public safety retirement system benefits should they continue their service in a non-public safety position.
Federal first responders, including law enforcement officers, customs and border protection officers and firefighters, pay a higher percentage of their salary toward their annuity to retire after 20 years of service at age 50, or after 25 years of service at any age with a mandatory separation of service by age 57. However, if federal public safety workers sustain injuries or illness on the job disabling them to the point of no longer being able to continue in their current positions and are reverted to different civil service positions, they previously became ineligible to receive the same public safety worker retirement benefits they were formerly entitled to receive.
With passage, federal first responders can now remain in the public safety retirement system they pay into should they decide to continue their service outside their current system. Additionally, the law provides affected employees with a refund of their accelerated contributions should they separate from service prior to receiving their annuity.
H.R. 521 was previously passed in the House by a vote of 417-0 in July 2022, and later passed the Senate via unanimous consent in November. In a statement , NARFE President Ken Thomas said that “NARFE is proud to have supported this legislation and thanks lawmakers and the president for honoring the service of first responders by removing this flaw in federal workforce policy.”
Could Force House Floor Vote for WEP/GPO Repeal" />
Today, September 10, Representatives Garret Graves, R-LA, and Abigail Spanberger, D-VA, officially filed discharge petition # to bring the Social Security Fairness Act, H.R. 82, to the House floor for a vote.
President Biden issued an alternative pay plan for 2025 for federal employees that will provide an average 2% pay raise consisting of a 1.7% across-the-board increase with a 0.3% average increase to locality pay rates.
NARFE has now moved to support a discharge petition for H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, which aims to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO).
