Indianapolis, Indiana – Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb will face two lawsuits against him following his decision to end the federal unemployment benefits.
Last month on May 17th, Holcomb announced that Indiana is ending the federal unemployment benefits on June 19th. According to him, the decision came after many businesses were struggling with finding workers.
Now two of the biggest lawsuit firms are about to challenge his latest decision. Indiana Legal Services Macey Swanson Hicks & Sauer law firm filed a lawsuit against the state in Marion Superior County Court both companies announced on Tuesday. They asked for a preliminary injunction, which would allow people to receive benefits while the case continues.
“These benefits have provided life-sustaining and crucial assistance to many Hoosiers during the pandemic,” said Jon Laramore, executive director of Indiana Legal Services in a statement. “The legislature passed a law creating a right to these benefits, and we’re asking Governor Holcomb to follow the law.”
Businesses are struggling with workers since March and they blame the $300 federal benefits to be the case for not finding workers. One more thing is how easy people obtain these benefits they say.
The four programs that will end Saturday in Indiana include:
- Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), which provides a $300 weekly add-on to recipients of unemployment insurance.
- Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), which provides recipients extended benefits after their traditional 26 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits have been exhausted.
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which provides benefits to people who do not normally qualify for unemployment benefits, such as self-employed, gig workers, and independent contractors.
- Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC), which provides a $100 additional weekly benefit for people who are eligible for regular unemployment benefits but also earned at least $5,000 in self-employment income.
“Eliminating these pandemic programs will not be a silver bullet for employers to find employees, but we currently have about 116,000 available jobs in the state that need filled now,” Holcomb said in May. “I’ve spoken to leaders in the recreational vehicle industry who tell me they could hire thousands of people today, and in the last couple weeks, we’ve seen companies like Amazon, Apple, Toyota, and Milwaukee Tool announce thousands of new career opportunities for Hoosiers.”
Governor hasn’t commented the latest news.
