Colleen Mellor

Dec 12, 2023

How the Loss of COLA affected This Retiree

Colleen Kelly Mellor

I taught English and journalism in Cranston, RI secondary schools, for 30 years, retiring in 1997 at the age of 51, at a top salary of $43,000. I’d been widowed at 43 (2nd marriage) and because my husband and I were married only 8 years (instead of required 10), I was ineligible to collect his Social Security benefits.

Because I was raising two children as sole breadwinner, it had been necessary for me to take on many other jobs as waitress, tutor, census taker…election poll worker. I did all of these, besides teaching full time.

Before retiring, I was extremely careful about my decision-making and met with actuarial people to make sure I’d be “all right, financially.” That was important since, as stated, I received no benefits from my deceased husband and my younger child was just about to enter college.

I believed the COLA would help me keep pace with inflation. After all, it was a contractual obligation, so I never feared it would be taken away.

Two years after I retired from teaching, and because I needed more income than my pension (for college costs), I became a realtor, enjoying the perks and benefits that go along with jobs in the private sector: I wrote off client luncheons, gas and events. I learned of the benefits of private sector employment. My success meant I paid a hefty amount in income taxes, during the nine years I was a realtor.

Those taxes, combined with all the taxes I paid over my many years of teaching and other jobs, meant I had more than paid my fair share into Social Security.

But then the rules of the game changed: In 2011, we municipal workers lost the contractually-promised COLA.

Then, too, when it came time for me to collect Social Security (age 65), the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) kicked in and my own earned SS benefits were cut to one third what I was owed.

So, it was a double whammy—Loss of COLA and loss of SS.

I consider those of us who have lost their rightful Social Security benefits due to WEP and SS offset significantly discriminated against and I hope Congress redresses this wrong imposed on so many of us for so long.

But the loss of our promised COLA is my main focus in this letter. That action that claimed “necessary to save the Pension fund” was wrong, ethically, and that loss has impacted many of us adversely. (What happened to the sanctity of a contract?)

Many of us have lived with the fallout of these inequities for years. It’s well nigh time to address these issues.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Colleen Kelly Mellor (teacher in Cranston, RI, 30 years)

Submitted via online webform