Judge rejects New Hampshire lawsuit over jobless benefits

(The Center Square) – A state judge has tossed out a lawsuit filed by a group of New Hampshire workers over Gov. Chris Sununu’s decision to end the state’s participation in federal unemployment programs.

In the ruling, Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Jacalyn Colburn rejected the request for a preliminary injunction and relief, saying the plaintiffs “have not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims because neither of the statutes on which they rely require the defendants to act.”

“Having failed to make this vital showing, the plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction is denied,” Colburn wrote in the 10-page ruling.

Sununu ended participation in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program – and a $300 per week added federal benefit – in June as the state announced plans to lift remaining COVID-19 restrictions.

He said the move was needed to ease a post-pandemic hiring crunch and rebuild the state’s economy by getting more people back to work.

But the legal challenge, filed in state Superior Court on behalf of four unemployed workers, alleged the state didn’t have the authority to end the federal programs.

The lawsuit, which named Sununu and the state’s Employment Security Commissioner George Copadis as chief defendants, asked the court to reinstate PUA benefits in New Hampshire and provide back pay to the litigants and 15,000 other eligible participants.

In a statement, Sununu thanked the court for issuing a “clear, concise, and decisive ruling” in the legal challenge his office had previously dismissed as “a political stunt.”

“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,” Sununu said.

New Hampshire was one of 26 states that ended pandemic unemployment programs early, which has prompted a flurry of legal challenges. It was the only state in the Northeast to bail out of the programs.

To date, the Granite State has paid out more than $1.8 billion in federal and state jobless benefits since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

PUA was created to provide jobless benefits to “gig economy” workers and others who didn’t qualify for regular state unemployment benefits.

It is one of several other federal pandemic unemployment programs that expired on Sept. 6.

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