Supreme Court rebukes state for second time in a year over Covid payments

Department of Labor sought to claw back Covid assistance for lost work

The state of South Dakota was wrong to demand that an insurance agent repay money he received from federal pandemic relief funds, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The unanimous 5-0 decision also reversed the rulings of an administrative law judge and a circuit court judge, who both ruled in favor of the South Dakota Department of Labor after it demanded that Lonnie Reidburn repay more than $24,000 he received after Congress appropriated money to assist people who lost employment because of Covid.

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It was the second time in less than a year that the justices on the court found the Department of Labor relied on an incorrect interpretation of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance rules for self-employed people. In May, the Court sided with the owner of a West River bed and breakfast after the Department of Labor required the owner, Darcy Bracken, to repay more than $14,000 after it decided her business had not been hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Reidburn’s case, he received weekly pandemic assistance checks after applying for assistance on April 20, 2020. Reidburn, whose income was based on commissions from new policies and renewals that he sold for Farmers Union Insurance, said he saw a big downturn in business because his clients did not want him to visit their homes. Reidburn sold policies for home, auto, commercial, health and farm insurance.

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