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BABCOCK v. KIJAKAZI 

Opinion of the Court 

from Social Security taxes, so it calculated artificially low 
earnings for retirees who spent part of their careers in those 
jobs.  As a result, those retirees received an artificially high
percentage  of  their  calculated  earnings  in  Social  Security
benefits—plus,  in  many  cases,  payments  from  separate
pensions to boot. 

Congress  responded  to  this  “windfall”  by  modifying  the
formula  to reduce  benefits  when a  retiree  receives  such  a 
separate pension payment.  Social Security Amendments of 
1983,  §113(a),  97  Stat.  76–78,  42  U. S. C.  §§415(a)(7)(A)– 
(B).  But  it  exempted  several  categories  of  pension  pay-
ments, including “a payment based wholly on service as a 
member of a uniformed service.”  Social Security Independ-
ence and Program Improvements Act of 1994, §308(b), 108
Stat. 1522–1523, 42 U. S. C. §415(a)(7)(A)(III).  The upshot
is that pensions based on uniformed service do not trigger 
a reduction in Social Security benefits. 

This case concerns the application of the windfall elimi-
nation  provision  to  a  unique  position  in  federal  employ-
ment:  the  “military  technician  (dual  status).”  10  U. S. C. 
§10216.  As its name suggests, this rare bird has character-
istics of two different statuses.  On one hand, the dual-sta-
tus technician is a “civilian employee” engaged in “organiz-
ing, 
or 
“maintenance and repair of supplies” to assist the National 
Guard.  §10216(a)(1)(C); 32 U. S. C. §§709(a)(1)–(2).  On the 
other, the technician “is required as a condition of that em-
ployment to maintain membership in the [National Guard]” 
and  must  wear  a  uniform  while  working.    10  U. S. C. 
§10216(a)(1)(B); 32 U. S. C. §§709(b)(2)–(4). 

administering, 

instructing,” 

“training,” 

This  dual  role  means  that  technicians  perform  work  in 
two  separate  capacities  that  yield  different  forms  of  com-
pensation.    First,  they  work  full  time  as  technicians  in  a
civilian capacity.  For  this work, they receive civil-service
pay and, if hired before 1984, Civil Service Retirement Sys-