Around 7,000 federal workers in Ohio aren’t receiving paychecks because of the government shutdown. And those who are furloughed won’t be offered unemployment checks from the state either.
The DeWine administration says the Department of Job and Family Services has advised against offering jobless benefits because the state could be penalized for not following the federal rules – which will translate to a tax hike on businesses that pay into unemployment. And DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney also says those benefits would have to be taken back from those workers eventually.
“It would be unfair for us to have to go out and ask them to repay money that they would have received from this because they will be receiving the back pay at some point.”
Tierney also says the state couldn’t process unemployment benefits with computers or equipment paid for by the federal government. Three states have said they’ll defy the federal rules and offer workers jobless benefits.
