The Social Security Administration says it has processed 2.5 million retroactive payments to people previously locked out of retirement benefits.

After dealing with downsizing and frequent changes to policies, employees at the Social Security Administration are reportedly overwhelmed. A huge factor contributing to this stress is the expectation to quickly wrap up all the cases related to the new Social Security Fairness Act.

The uptick in claims comes amid an aging baby boomer population and changes implemented under the Social Security Fairness Act.