Marion Co. Judge Temporarily Reinstates Federal Pandemic Unemployment Benefits

Monday, June 28, 2021 at 10:35 AM

Governor Holcomb ordered the benefits to stop effective June 19, which was followed by a lawsuit.

Shutterstock photo.

(INDIANAPOLIS) – Indiana must continue paying pandemic unemployment benefits.

A Marion County judge temporarily stopped Governor Eric Holcomb’s order to end unemployment benefits, including $300 weekly federal funding to roughly 230,000 Hoosiers.

The state will have to continue with the federal pandemic unemployment benefits until a lawsuit challenging the early termination of compensation is decided.

Gov. Holcomb announced in May that Indiana would end its participation in all federally funded pandemic unemployment insurance programs effective June 19.

A lawsuit was filed by two legal organizations about a month later, arguing that the governor’s actions would prematurely impact thousands of Hoosiers prior to expanded unemployment benefits expiring on September 6.

The governor's office is expected to appeal the judge's decision

Indiana is one of 26 states to drop at least one of three pandemic unemployment insurance programs prior to the expiration date.

The Indiana Democratic Party released the following statement:

“Federal unemployment benefits - funded by President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan – are helping Hoosier families put the pandemic in the rearview mirror. Still, COVID-19 exposed one glaring problem too many Hoosier workers know: many jobs do not pay a livable wage and force people to work more for less. The responsibility of this unfair reality should fall on the state's elected leaders who too often are putting their extreme partisanship ahead of common-sense solutions like raising the state's minimum wage. Democrats know it's past time to raise worker wages, and we hope Republicans can finally get on board so that a better future can be built for every Hoosier family across Indiana."

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