What I do know is that my wife is a retired educator who gets a pension from the state retirement plan. She did not have SS taken out all those years, rather, she only paid into the state plan.
I was told by my financial advisor that even if she was to work the required 40 quarters where she paid in SS (at part time jobs, for example), or if she were to collect on my SS benefits in case of my death, there would be a reduction of benefits because of her pension. This was due to the windfall elimination provision. I think it also has something to do with the amount of the pension. As I recall, my advisor said that this provision was more likely to apply to administrators (which she was) rather than classroom teachers.
We are talking about people who paid into SS and then took a job with exempt status, they still paid just like everyone else but just get their amount deducted by 40% what is fair about that? By the way you still paid medicare whether you paid SS or not.