An article in the Dallas Morning News reports that teachers in Texas are gaining $93,000 or more in spousal retirement benefits by working another job for just one day. The Texas Classroom Teachers Association, not only encourages Texas teachers to take advantage of the loophole, but also lobbies against the federal provision that was intended to prohibit public employees from collecting both.
Under federal law, retirees with state or local government pensions cannot receive full spousal Social Security benefits, even if they would otherwise qualify – the so-called Government Pension Offset. A provision of the law, however, allows those additional benefits to be collected if a retiree’s final working day is spent in a job covered by Social Security.
