Judge orders Nevada to pay unemployment applicants

Checks must be on the way by next week to some 130,000 Nevadans who applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance but have waited, some as long as 17 weeks, for payment.

On Monday, Washoe County Judge Barry Breslow ordered extraordinary relief, a writ compelling a state agency to take action — in this case, make payments to applicants for relief under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program — a component of the CARES Act that awarded benefits to workers who are traditionally not eligible.

“If other states were hit by a tsunami, we were on a barrier island,” Breslow said of Nevada.

Only one plaintiff in the case remains unpaid by the state, but attorneys say thousands of others are still awaiting payment.

Breslow ruled the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) erred in requiring so-called gig workers and others to completely suspend operations to qualify for assistance.

Read more: https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2020/07/20/judge-orders-nevada-to-pay-unemployment-applicants/