Social Security Administration May 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

These final rules amend our regulations to conform to the ``Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act of 2000.'' This legislation was enacted on April 7, 2000, and became retroactively effective on January 1, 2000. It eliminates the Social Security annual earnings test for retirement beneficiaries, starting from the month in which they reach full retirement age. Before the passage of this legislation, persons reaching full retirement age were subject to an earnings test until the month in which they attained age 70.

On February 11, 2005, SSA, with the concurrence of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register (70 FR 7192-7196) that would supplement, for officers and employees of SSA, the OGE Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch. The proposed regulations would set forth prohibitions and prior approval requirements for certain outside employment and other outside activities for all SSA employees, except special Government employees, and would set forth additional prior approval requirements for SSA Administrative Law Judges. To allow the public additional time to send us comments, we are reopening the comment period.