Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program Lawsuit In New Hampshire Thrown Out

NASHUA, NH — A lawsuit by four people, requesting a superior court force the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security to continue to pay federally expanded unemployment benefits, has been thrown out.

Cassandra Caron, Brandon Deane, Alison Petrowski, and Aaron Shelton requested the Hillsborough County Superior Court South in August to reimplement the program, ended by Gov. Chris Sununu, in July, after more than a year, due to the state’s labor shortage and improving economy. The federal benefit amounted to $300 extra per week.

The plaintiffs said the governor prematurely ended the program before it expired. They requested reinstatement as well as missed benefits between July and August to be paid out while citing the Social Security Act and claimed unemployment was covered under that act.

However, the court disagreed, stating the expanded benefits were “new benefits, never previously available to unemployed workers, and are provided by legislation separate and apart from the Social Security Act,” even if the federal government was using the Social Security Administration as a funding mechanism. The court also stated, had Congress amended the Social Security Act to include the expanded benefits, “I may have more force.” However, “that is not what happened.” The court also stated the request was “premised on flawed interpretations” of state and federal law.

Sununu thanked the court for its “clear, concise, and decisive ruling.” He said the state had given those collecting unemployment more than a month’s notice that the benefit would be ending four months ago.

“The New Hampshire Department of Employment Security has done a phenomenal job throughout the pandemic assisting out-of-work Granite Staters receive benefits and find work, and this ruling will allow them to continue helping our citizens unobstructed as we move forward,” he added.

Mike Perez of Perez Law, the plaintiff’s representative, said they were reviewing the decision and “considering all options,” including an appeal.

Zandra Rice Hawkins, the executive director of Granite State Progress, said Sununu still had close to two weeks to reinstate the expanded benefits in order to keep New Hampshire from losing out “on millions in federal dollars.” She said his decision made “absolutely no sense and is a complete waste of state resources. Sununu should be focused on expanding economic stability for families and small business owners, not harming it.”

The unemployment rate in the state was 3 percent for August. While it is unknown exactly how many open employment positions there are in New Hampshire, there are signs at retail establishments everywhere, offering between $11 and $20 an hour, entry-level, and there are more than 44,000 jobs listed on Indeed.com.

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