Air and Army National Guard Technicians have been unfairly penalized by a provision of the Social Security Act that was incorrectly applied to their to their Social Security pay calculation, which caused a significant reduction in member's monthly Social Security monthly retirement pay. The law stated that members of the Uniformed Armed Services would be exempt from the WEP. The Air Force Reserve Technicians who perform the same duties during the week as Air and Army National Guard Technicians, were exempt from the WEP even though they are not required to wear the uniform unless attending a training assembly or performing air crew duties. It appears that Section 308 of the Social Security Act of 1994 was not correctly applied by the Social Security Administration because of a misinterpretation of the term "Military Reservists". The application of the WEP has placed an unfair burden on retired Technician families and is an inequity which should be remedied immediately including back pay. In three past congressional sessions, bills to eliminate the WEP have been given bipartisan support, only to fail to make it out of committee.

On February 3rd, 2011, The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held in Petersen v Astrue, that the civilian work of a retired Air National Guard dual status technician was service "as a member of a uniformed service." The court further considered his civilian CSRS pension to be a "payment based wholly on service as a member of a uniformed service." Therefore, the WEP did not apply to his CSRS pension. Importantly, The Social Security Administration acquiesced with the court finding and did not appeal the decision. Unfortunately, the Petersen v Astrue decision only applies to the seven states in the Eighth Circuit. We ask that legislation be crafted that will remove the WEP from the calculation of dual status technician SSA retirement pay and technicians be made whole for the shortfall caused by the misapplication of the WEP.

Removal of the Windfall Elimination Provision from Air and Army National Guard Social Security monthly pay calculation, and compensate Guard Technicians for lost income.