Governor Holcomb trying to block ruling on $300 unemployment bonus, 174,000 Hoosiers waiting for final decision

Bloomington, Indiana – Governor Holcomb referred to the Court of Appeals and asked to block the federal ruling that would require them to resume expanded unemployment payments.

Indiana Attorney General’s Office filed this motion on Monday in the evening hours.

As we already informed, the federal unemployment benefits are set to expire in September, but Indiana was among several other states that chose to end it earlier in June.

The State of Indiana was ordered last week to immediately rejoin the federal program and continue the $300 weekly expanded payments given to unemployed Hoosiers until its ending date in September. According to that order, Governor Holcomb and the State of Indiana violated the Indiana law when it was decided to cut the federal benefits on June 19.

“Governor Holcomb determined that continued participation in the CARES Act programs is harming Indiana’s recovery from the economic and social havoc wreaked by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic because the optional federal benefits are dissuading people from returning to the workforce, resulting in a significant labor shortage,” the state wrote in its appeal. “He thus withdrew Indiana from those programs effective June 19, 2021, in accordance with the required 30-day notice to the United States Department of Labor 9USDOL).”

The appeal from the state of Indiana explains that they informed everyone and gave 30-day full written notice prior to June 19. State officials now claim the program officially ended on June 19 and there is now way it can be lawfully reinstated. The state officials added that reinstating the program is pretty complicated process, a process that will require the state to enter into a new agreement with the USDOL.

The latest data shows that more than 174,000 Hoosiers are still collecting federal unemployment benefits and they remain unsure if the help will continue in the upcoming period.

Governor Holcomb previously decided to cut the benefits as many local businesses are facing workers shortage claiming federal support makes people not looking for jobs.