Biden administration says states can restart unemployment benefits amid pandemic as lawsuits escalate

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The referral comes as unemployed residents in more states sue to reinstate benefits. Unemployed people in Ohio and Oklahoma joined those in Indiana, Maryland and Texas this month in turning to state courts to force their governors to resume payments.

In addition to the weekly supplement of $ 300, federal programs provide benefits to freelancers, self-employed workers, independent contractors and some people affected by the coronavirus and those who have exhausted their regular state benefits.

The three pandemic unemployment programs are expected to expire in early September in states that continue them.

If the termination date has already passed, states may need to enter into a new agreement with the Ministry of Labor, depending on the guidelines. Two of the programs – the weekly $ 300 boost and payments to those who have exhausted their regular state benefits – will not resume until after the agreement is signed.

However, those who participate in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program for freelancers, self-employed workers and others must be allowed to certify the weeks they have missed in order to receive those payments, the agency said.

If the termination date has not passed, the state can simply notify the US Department of Labor that it is canceling or amending the notice it filed.

After the majority Republican-led states began announcing the terminations in May, consumer advocates and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont urged the Biden administration to prevent governors from ending payments.

But the administration said there was nothing it could do to stop states from stopping the programs.

Turning to the courts

Unemployed residents in at least five states have filed lawsuits, arguing that benefits were inappropriately interrupted.

Judges in Maryland and Indiana have ordered authorities to temporarily restore payments while cases are in court, but only Maryland has done so. A state judge is expected to render a ruling on Tuesday.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development said it was “determining how to proceed as federal programs no longer exist after they end on June 19.”

In both states, the unemployed argue that state law requires civil servants to obtain all federal unemployment benefits available to residents.

Meanwhile, unemployed Ohio workers filed a lawsuit earlier this month, arguing their state officials must do the same. The state did not end weekly benefits of $ 300 until the end of June. The plaintiffs ask the judge to order the resumption of the supplement.

In Oklahoma, a lawsuit filed on behalf of an unemployed resident argues that Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt did not have the authority to terminate programs and that state law requires civil servants to guarantee federal benefits to the unemployed.

The unemployed in Texas also filed a lawsuit against GOP Governor Greg Abbott for ending benefits on June 26, arguing he lacked the authority to do so.

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