A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Ohio residents to disburse nearly $1 billion in unused pandemic unemployment assistance that had been appropriated for Ohioans.
In a class-action lawsuit filed against Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) and the state, 320,000 Ohioans are fighting for that money. Ohio residents would have received the money in 2021 during the pandemic, but DeWine opted out of receiving it from July through September of that year.
“The extra pandemic money from the federal government was a lifeline,” Candy Bowling, the named plaintiff in the lawsuit, told 3News Investigates.
“I only got like $300 from the state, and I was used to bringing in over $600 a week, so it wasn’t really even half of what I was making before [becoming unemployed during the pandemic],” Bowling explained.
The money is sitting in an account with the U.S. Department of Labor. Bowling said she was angered upon hearing that DeWine planned to stop accepting the money.
“Why would you give up assistance from the federal government that was meant to help the people and the state of Ohio? I mean, it not only helps the people pay their bills, buy their food, get medications, but it also helped the businesses stay afloat,” Bowling said.
The federal unemployment assistance was part of pandemic relief efforts that gave unemployed Ohioans an extra $300 per week until the state stopped accepting that money. DeWine’s office said it stopped taking the money because the COVID-19 pandemic “ended.”
“The July 2021 to September 2021 time period referenced was after the pandemic emergency had ended,” the governor’s office said. “In recent years, including those in question, Ohio has had more open jobs than workers to fill them. Providing emergency supplemental benefits well after the conditions necessitating them had ended was sending the wrong message when Ohio was open for business.”
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Attorney Marc Dann, who took up the case, said the lawsuit is over $300 per week for 10 weeks, which amounts to $3,000 each for 320,000 residents of the state, adding up to $960 million in federal money in total. Dann disagrees with the governor’s office’s take on the matter.
“They continue to take the position, which the data didn’t support, that people who were receiving unemployment benefits were unlikely to apply for jobs,” Dann said. “The fact is, anybody who’s been unemployed understands that’s not the case.”