Court Opinion

ID: 9740497
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:36:31.821208+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:18.545386
License: Public Domain

KELLEY, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. I concur with the majority that appellants have failed to establish an express or implied contract. The three-judge panel made findings that the state made no promises regarding guaranteed levels of employee contributions to the pension funds and that appellants have failed to establish that they reasonably and detrimentally relied upon any express or implied promises made by the state. While perhaps different findings could have been made, as Justice Yetka points out in his dissent, I conclude the panel’s findings on the contract issues were not clearly erroneous. I further concur that the enactment of the “Act” by the legislature was not an unfair labor practice under PELRA.
However, because I cannot escape the conclusion that the mandatory 2% withholding provision is a tax, and, as such, that it violates the state uniformity clause, Minn. Const, art. X, § 1, I join the dissent of Justice Yetka and would reverse on that ground only.