Statehouse News Bureau The backlog of pending appeals for federal pandemic unemployment claims has prompted a man to file a lawsuit after it took 38 days for the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services to review his denied unemployment claim. A court ruling is enforcing the 21-day timeline that ODJFS has to decide appeals. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has 21 days to decide appeals from people who were denied federal pandemic unemployment assistance, according to a ruling from a Franklin County judge. This could have a big impact on the backlog of 150,000 appeals at ODJFS. William Hummel filed the lawsuit after he waited 38 days to get a review of his denied pandemic unemployment claim. ODJFS said it was delayed because of the sheer volume of applications received during the pandemic.