BALTIMORE, MD—A Baltimore City judge on Tuesday morning issued an injunction that will keep some unemployment benefits in place in Maryland for the time being.

Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill granted the preliminary injunction allowing enhanced federal unemployment benefits in the state to continue into September.

The injunction orders Governor Larry Hogan and Maryland Department of Labor Secretary Tiffany Robinson to to ensure that residents continue to receive “any and all expanded and/or supplemental unemployment benefits available” to them under the CARES Act.

On Monday, attorneys representing the Hogan administration argued that the state had the right to opt out of the federal benefits and, in doing so, added that more people would join the labor force.

On June 1, Governor Hogan had announced plans to pull out of the pandemic unemployment program, but right before the move went into effect on July 3, Judge Fletcher-Hill issued a restraining order.

The federal expanded unemployment programs are slated to end nationally in early September.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels