The COVID-19 pandemic ended years ago, but some Ohioans are still fighting for unemployment benefits they say Gov. Mike DeWine cut off too soon.
During the pandemic, Congress approved additional money for unemployment benefits. This extra $300 per week was set to expire in September 2021. However, DeWine removed Ohio from the program about 10 weeks early to encourage people to get back to work.
A group of Ohioans on unemployment assistance sued, arguing they were entitled to nearly $900 million in benefits because DeWine decided to cut them off early.
In the years since, the legal case has wound its way through multiple appeals. In 2023, Ohio lawmakers changed state law to make it clear that the governor can withdraw from federal programs before their end date.
On May 20, attorneys will again make their case before the Ohio Supreme Court. The justices will decide in the coming months whether DeWine must ask the federal government for the unpaid benefits.
Attorneys for the unemployed Ohioans argue that DeWine didn’t have the authority to end the federal benefits early. A Franklin County judge and appeals court agreed, ruling that it wasn’t impossible to recover that money for Ohioans.
“The governor’s office is obviously a politically powerful role. However, that power is not limitless,” wrote attorney Andrew Engel, who is representing Ohioans seeking benefits.
Attorneys representing DeWine contend that the governor doesn’t have to ask the federal government to pay for long-expired unemployment benefits. The Ohio Supreme Court already ruled this issue was moot in 2022, and lawmakers have since clarified the law.
“The highest authority in each branch of Ohio government has weighed in about the question this case poses,” Ohio Solicitor General Mathura J. Sridharan wrote. “Each torpedoes (the plaintiff Candy) Bowling’s claim that an Ohio court has present authority to enjoin the governor to rejoin a four-years-ago-scuttled federal program.”
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine, the son of Gov. DeWine, recused himself from hearing this case.
State government reporter Jessie Balmert can be reached at jbalmert@usatodayco.com or @jbalmert on X.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Supreme Court to decide if workers are owed pandemic benefits
Reporting by Jessie Balmert, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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