Allied Structural Steel Co. v. Spannaus

Minnesota's Private Pension Benefits Protection Act imposed a funding charge on employers that terminated pension plans or left the state, requiring vesting for employees with ten or more years of service, well beyond what Allied's (plaintiff) own pension policy required; when Allied closed its Minnesota offices and discharged employees, most of whom lacked vested rights under its own plan, the state assessed a $185,000 charge under the new law, and Allied challenged it as unconstitutionally impairing its contractual pension obligations.