SC court says governor had right to stop federal COVID unemployment benefits
A South Carolina judge threw out a lawsuit Friday against Gov. Henry McMaster and the head of the state’s unemployment agency after four people sued over the state ending federal unemployment benefits related to the coronavirus.
Judge Lawton McIntosh found that state law and court precedent denied the four South Carolina residents the ability to sue McMaster and Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) Director Daniel Ellzey for the specific reasons cited in their lawsuit.
The lawsuit claimed that McMaster and Ellzey were violating the federal Social Security Act related to unemployment payments authorized by the CARES Act.
The judge found that the governor’s decision to end federal unemployment payments before their end date did not violate Social Security laws.
The governor and DEW director have “discretion to determine what benefits from the federal government actually put the State and its citizens in a ‘superiority of position or condition,’” McIntosh wrote in his dismissal.
On McMaster’s order, DEW ended on June 27 the federal unemployment benefits granted by the CARES Act, which was meant to help people during the pandemic.
Appleseed Legal Justice Center, a legal group that advocates for low-income people, and Kassel McVey law firm filed the suit on behalf of four South Carolina residents who were unidentified in the court filings.
The suit essentially claimed that McMaster and DEW were hurting people and putting them at a disadvantage by ending the federal benefits early.
“It’s past time for South Carolinians to get back to work,” a spokesperson for the governors office said in response to the suit. “We simply can’t continue to incentivize able-bodied South Carolinians to stay home rather than accept one of the tens of thousands of available jobs in the state.”
The lawsuit was filed and dismissed in Richland County’s court.
This story was originally published August 14, 2021 at 11:52 AM.