City of Frederick v. Quinn

The issue decided by the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, from which this appeal arose, was whether The City of Frederick could unilaterally repeal a noncontributory police pension plan, retroactively divesting the interest of the employees who chose not to participate in a substituted contributory plan offered by the City. The court below recognized that the issue turned upon whether Maryland views a public employee pension system as a mere gratuity, representing the graciousness of a sovereign to its servants, or as a part of the earnings of an employee which was offered as an…