The retirement incomes of more than 270,000 Ohioans could be greatly impacted by the actions of the U.S. Senate over the next few weeks. In Ohio, if you are a firefighter, police officer, teacher or other public employee who is part of the state’s Public Employees Retirement System, since 1983, you haven’t been able to collect your full Social Security benefits when you retire even if you’ve paid into the system for years working other jobs.
“If you’re in the private sector, you pay into a 401K or some type of other retirement program, you’re still entitled to all of your Social Security Benefits; however, if you are a public servant and you pay into like our members pay into Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund, there benefits through Social Security are drastically reduced for themselves as well as their spouses and widows,” said Jake Konys, president of the Association of Cleveland Fire Fighters Local 93.
“It causes a lot of our membes to double think, you know, retirement when they get to that point in their life.”