Appeals court decides in favor of unemployed Ohioans
Posted August 24, 2021 in Press Releases
It’s a win for jobless workers, but more action needed to restore benefits
The Ohio 10th District Court of Appeals today reversed a trial court decision and ruled that state law calls for Ohio to continue paying the $300-a-week Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) benefits cut off by Gov. Mike DeWine in June. It ruled the governor overstepped by turning down the assistance.
However, the court did not grant the requested preliminary injunction reinstating the benefits; it ruled that the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas first had to rule on whether the plaintiffs had satisfied the other requirements for such an injunction. Those include whether such an injunction would create unjustifiable harm to third parties and that the public interest would be served by an injunction. Policy Matters Ohio Executive Director Hannah Halbert issued the following statement on the decision:
“The appeals court reached the right decision based on Ohio law: Gov. DeWine should continue the pandemic unemployment benefits. The hundreds of thousands of Ohioans who had these benefits taken away need them to pay rent, buy food and keep the lights on. The extra unemployment support also helps the state economy recover. (See our friend-of-the-court brief filed in the case here.)
“Governor DeWine should do the right thing: reinstate the unemployment support, pay out the remaining weeks to unemployed Ohioans, mitigate the state’s potential damages from the 200,000-plus Ohioans who were wrongly denied benefits, and bring security to unemployed workers, their families, and our local economies, which are all again battling the latest COVID wave.
“In the absence of action by Governor DeWine, the trial court should move quickly to act on the case, so that there is no further delay in unemployed Ohioans getting this crucial lifeline.”