Q. My wife retired from a civil service job with 31 years of service and gets a retirement check each month. She continued to work elsewhere under Social Security and now has enough quarters to get a Social Security retirement. Will she continue to get her complete civil service check and one from Social Security?
A. Assuming she was a CSRS employee, she’ll continue to receive her unreduced CSRS annuity; however, her Social Security benefit will be subject to the windfall elimination provision. The WEP reduces the Social Security benefit of anyone who receives an annuity from a retirement system, such as CSRS, where he or she didn’t pay Social Security taxes and has fewer than 30 years of substantial earnings under Social Security.
