Maryland’s unemployed workers are enjoying a court victory after a judge ruled Tuesday the state must continue to pay enhanced federal unemployment benefits.Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill issued a preliminary injunction in the lawsuits filed to block the governor’s early termination of federal enhanced unemployment benefits.Read the preliminary injunction hereThe governor’s office said the state does not plan to appeal the ruling.”This is truly a David-and-Goliath victory where unemployed workers have beat the Hogan administration, and this is going to give people a few more weeks until Sept. 6 (when benefits expire) to be recalled or to find other work,” said Roxie Herbekian, president of UNITE HERE Local 7 Baltimore.”We are thrilled with this decision, thrilled that hundreds of thousands of Marylanders will continue to receive their benefits through September,” said Sally Dworak-Fisher, an attorney with the Public Justice Center.The ruling follows state law that requires the Maryland Department of Labor to maximize relief for unemployed residents.So, should a similar economic calamity happen again, this won’t be an issue.”If the federal government deems this aid necessary, I don’t know why our governor would cut us off at the knees,” said Alex Dane, a furloughed hotel worker. “It’s my lifeline to keeping a roof over my head. It’s a lifeline to putting food on the table, paying my bills. I mean, bills do not take a vacation.”The legal battle was over the federal enhanced unemployment benefits that add an extra $300 a week to the pockets of the unemployed. It also covered gig workers, the self-employed and those who exhausted other benefits.Business owners complain they are having trouble hiring and retaining employees. Gov. Larry Hogan said ending the federal benefits would have helped motivate people to go back to work.Kevin Baxter said he doesn’t need motivation, he just needs a call back from the hotel which furloughed him more than a year ago.”I just keep looking in my field and just waiting until my job calls me back, which I have been there 13 years and I would be glad to go back,” Baxter said. “I’m glad that we did win because a lot of Maryland unemployed people won’t have to worry about how they are going to pay their rent, pay their gas and electric, how to pay all their necessary bills. It gives us enough time for people to find a job.”The legal battle involved an interpretation of emergency legislation passed this year by the Maryland General Assembly.”It essentially clarifies that the state unemployment insurance code requires the secretary to maximize benefits. It’s not the executive discretion to turn down benefits,” Dworak-Fisher said.In the preliminary injunction, the court ordered the governor and labor secretary to continue benefits, writing that they “shall immediately take all actions…
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