Saturday, 17 July 2021

Indiana resumes federal pandemic unemployment benefits after court ruling

Gov. Eric Holcomb of Indiana.
AP Photo/Darron Cummings

Indiana on Friday resumed paying federal pandemic unemployment benefits.
The payments, which stopped on June 19, will be retroactive to the week ending on June 26.
Maryland was recently ordered to continue its federal unemployment supplemental payments.
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Indiana on Friday resumed paying pandemic unemployment benefits, including the weekly $300 enhanced federal supplement, after the state Court of Appeals denied the state's attempt to continue halting the disbursements, according to The Indianapolis Star.

Since the programs restarted, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development has already paid 25,000 people, with over 100,000 Hoosiers expected to file for the benefits, according to the Star.

The payments, which stopped on June 19, will be retroactive to the week ending on June 26.

"There will be no gap in payments for eligible claimants," said Regina Ashley, the chief unemployment insurance officer at the department.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb initially cut off the enhanced federal payments in June, citing the need for unemployed residents to get back into the workforce.

Holcomb was one of 26 state leaders who said that they would terminate at least one of three pandemic unemployment insurance programs that Congress passed last year at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and extended since that time.

The governor's action prompted a lawsuit from jobless workers in mid-June, who argued that state law requires officials to seek all relevant federal insurance benefits for residents.

The federal programs that were enacted into law also include benefits for freelance workers and independent contractors who may have exhausted their state unemployment benefits.

A group of unemployed residents in states that include Ohio and Texas have also filed lawsuits to restore federal benefits. A similar lawsuit is expected in Florida early next week.

In Maryland, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan sought to end federal benefits early, but a Baltimore Circuit Court Judge this week ruled that the state's unemployed residents should continue to receive the federal benefits.

Hogan's office expressed that while it "fundamentally disagrees" with the decision, it will not appeal the ruling, meaning the benefits will likely continue until early September.

The $300 weekly supplemental benefit, which was part of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package signed into law by President Joe Biden, is set to expire in September.

Republicans have long insisted that the enhanced aid has dissuaded people from returning to the workforce, criticizing its effect on job creators. Most Democratic-led states have embraced the aid, calling it an indispensable resource for the unemployed as the country aims to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Read the original article on Business Insider