The Ohio pandemic unemployment lawsuit, State ex rel. Bowling v. DeWine, is a class action on behalf of roughly 300,000 Ohio workers asking the Ohio Supreme Court to order the state to request about $900 million in federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation funds that were never paid out after Governor Mike DeWine pulled Ohio out of the program ten weeks early in 2021. Oral arguments were heard on May 20, 2026, and a decision is pending.
What the Workers Are Claiming
In June 2021, DeWine ended Ohio’s participation in the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program, which paid an extra $300 per week to unemployed workers. The federal program was not set to expire until September 6, 2021. Business groups had urged the withdrawal, arguing the supplement was discouraging return to work.
A group of eligible workers led by named plaintiff Candy Bowling sued in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. Their theory turns on a Depression-era statute, Ohio Revised Code § 4141.43, which requires the state to seek “all advantages available” in federal unemployment funds. The plaintiffs argue the governor was obligated to accept the money and lacked the power to unilaterally withdraw; only the General Assembly, they say, could make that call.
If the workers prevail, Ohio would be ordered to ask the U.S. Department of Labor for roughly $900 million to pay retroactive benefits — about ten weeks of $300 payments — to some 300,000 claimants who were unemployed in the summer and fall of 2021.
How the Case Got to the Ohio Supreme Court
The lawsuit has moved through the courts twice.
- The Franklin County Common Pleas Court first ruled for the state, finding the CARES Act was not explicitly listed in Ohio’s cooperation statute.
- The 10th District Court of Appeals reversed, holding the governor was compelled to seek the benefits.
- The Ohio Supreme Court dismissed the case as moot in 2022 because the federal program had already expired.
- Back at the trial court, Judge Michael Holbrook ruled in February 2025 that the governor should have taken “all action necessary” to reinstate the program, and ordered the state to request the $900 million.
- The 10th District affirmed in July 2025.
The DeWine administration appealed again, bringing the case back to the Ohio Supreme Court for the May 2026 hearing.
The Arguments at the May 20, 2026 Hearing
Attorney Andrew Engel of DannLaw, representing the claimants, told the court that “under Ohio law, that process did not include the governor making a unilateral decision.” He argued Congress had appropriated the pandemic funds “without fiscal year limitation,” so the money should still be available. A Department of Labor official’s affidavit filed in the case stated the funds have not been rescinded by Congress. Engel asked the court to order the governor to “ask for the money benefits-eligible Ohioans would have received if the state hadn’t left the program.”
Solicitor General Mathura Sridharan argued for the state that the case is moot: the federal program expired years ago, and the court said as much in 2022. Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy pressed Engel on that point, asking, “So you think the court can tell the executive branch that they have to go back into business and take that money?”
There is one more wrinkle. In 2023, the Ohio General Assembly amended the cooperation statute to clarify that the director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is not barred from ceasing participation in voluntary or emergency federal programs, and to affirm the governor’s authority to withdraw. Whether that amendment reaches back to the 2021 decision is one of the open questions before the court.
It is unclear when the justices will rule.
Congressional Effort to Block Retroactive Payments
On June 9, 2025, four Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee — Chairman Jason Smith, Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman Darin LaHood, and Ohio Representatives Mike Carey and Max Miller — wrote to Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer asking the Department of Labor to issue formal guidance declaring it is legally prohibited from spending federal funds on retroactive FPUC benefits.
The members argued the CARES Act benefits expired by law on September 6, 2021, and that no basis exists for spending nearly $900 million years later. They characterized the legal foundation for the Ohio ruling as resting on “informal Biden Administration guidance,” pointing to a September 2021 email from a DOL administrator suggesting states could retroactively re-enroll claimants. They also raised fraud concerns, citing a Government Accountability Office estimate of $100 billion to $130 billion in pandemic unemployment fraud nationwide, including $1 billion in Ohio.
As of the committee’s own filings, the DOL told the members in April 2025 that the existing informal guidance remained “valid and in effect.” There is no public indication that Secretary Chavez-DeRemer has issued the new formal guidance the committee requested.
What a Ruling Would Mean
A ruling for the workers would order Ohio to request about $900 million from the U.S. Department of Labor for retroactive payments to roughly 300,000 claimants, though actual disbursement would still depend on whether the federal government pays out. A ruling for the state would likely end the case and settle in Ohio’s executive branch’s favor the question of whether a governor could unilaterally exit the federal pandemic program. Ohio is one of the few states where a challenge of this kind has survived; similar lawsuits were dismissed in 13 other states, and Indiana’s Court of Appeals unanimously reversed a lower-court order to reinstate benefits.