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Spiller V. State: Determining The Nature Of Public Employees' Rights To Their Pensions, Andrew C. Mackenzie

Maine Law Review

In Spiller v. State, a divided Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that certain legislative changes to public employee pension benefits did not impair the employees' constitutional rights because there was no clear indication that the employees had a contractual right to their pensions. These changes were enacted as a reduction of state expenditures in reaction to Maine's fiscal deficit. The majority found that the changes were not unconstitutional and thus were permissible. The dissenting opinion, however, found that a contract existed between the State and the employees and that it had been breached. Although the …