24-02-2025
DeWine administration sued over COVID unemployment funds
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A group of Ohioans and former Ohio Attorney General Mark Dann scored a major victory when a Franklin County judge ordered Gov. Mike DeWine to recoup $900 million he declined from the federal government for unemployment in 2021.
A class-action lawsuit was filed against the governor on behalf of those who were receiving unemployment benefits during that time. Franklin County Judge Michael Holbrook ruled that DeWine turning away $900 million in federal unemployment benefits was against state law.
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DeWine ended the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program 10 weeks early in 2021. That program paid out an additional $300 per week to Ohioans receiving unemployment benefits. More than 300,000 people were receiving benefits from the pandemic-fueled program.
'I couldn't make the rent,' one of the lawsuit's plaintiffs, Michelle Carr, said. 'I was unemployed. I went out looking for jobs throughout. You know, I live in a small town. There really ain't a whole, whole lot here.'
'We put all of our faith in him,' another plaintiff in the lawsuit, Justin Pertuset, said. 'And we feel like he let us down, and he still is. It's not about, you know, Republican, Democrat. It's just about doing the right thing.'
Attorneys for the governor's office have filed an appeal to the ruling.
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