Indiana appeals federal unemployment ruling
(The Center Square) – The state of Indiana recently filed an appeal over a court ruling forcing it to resume weekly federal unemployment payments.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said the judge in his initial ruling “abused his discretion” in ordering the state to resume the $300 weekly payments.
Gov. Eric Holcomb in May said the state would stop participating in the program as of June 19.
Indiana Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm based in Indianapolis that provides free legal services to low-income residents, filed for an emergency injunction to continue the payments.
Marion County Superior Court Judge John Hanley late last month granted the injunction, forcing the state to continue the payments. After that ruling was upheld by an appellate court July 12, the state restarted the payments as of July 19.
The appeal lists Holcomb and Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Fred Payne as appellant-defendants. Rokita said the state is not required to participate in the program and questioned the legal grounds on which the original case was filed, noting the pandemic-related payments are distinct from the federal-state partnership that oversees regular unemployment programs.
President Joe Biden has said the extra federal payments will end in early September, although at least 25 states said they will or have already exited the program early. Those states, mostly led by Republican governors, have said extra money is harming businesses trying to fill open positions.
The money comes from the $2.2 billion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) signed into law by President Donald Trump in March 2020 and bolstered by Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Recovery Act passed earlier this year.
“After studying the labor shortage problem and unemployment data, the governor reasonably determined that CARES Act benefits, while at one time useful, were stunting Indiana’s recovery from the pandemic by incentivizing some people not to re-enter the workforce,” the state’s filing says.
The appeal goes on to say Holcomb “made a quintessential policy determination” that the payments were “harming Indiana’s economy more than those programs were benefitting it.”
Payne said people receiving the additional payments would not be asked to return the money should the state win its appeal.
Indiana’s unemployment rate for June was 4.1%. It was 4% in May and 3.9% in April.
A recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business found 48% of small business owners report they are receiving fewer job applications compared to a month ago.
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