Pandemic unemployment benefits must restart in Arkansas while a lawsuit works its way through the court system, a state judge ruled in a decision filed Thursday.
On the same day, an Ohio state judge denied a similar request to restore the $300 weekly pandemic supplement to jobless residents while he considers the case.
The split rulings are the latest in the quest by out-of-work Americans to reverse the decisions of more than two dozen governors to terminate at least one of three historic pandemic unemployment benefits programs early in an effort to spur residents to return to work.
Courts in Maryland and Indiana recently nixed governors’ orders to cease the benefits early, restoring payments to hundreds of thousands of people in those states.
Also on Thursday, laid-off Floridians filed a lawsuit challenging GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to terminate the $300 weekly boost on June 26 instead of in early September, when the pandemic programs will end in the states that are continuing them.
“The clear meaning of Arkansas law in this regard is that the state is to participate in these types of programs for the benefit of its citizens,” Wright wrote in his order. “The court has serious doubts that the governor and the director of Workforce Services were acting within the scope of their duties, as these decisions would normally be the subject of legislation from the General Assembly.
