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does not appear to be so central to the bargained-for exchange between the parties, or to the enforceability of the contract as a whole, that it must be deemed to be a contract term. State regulations are usually implied terms regardless of assent only when those laws affect the validity, construction, and enforcement of contracts. See United States Trust Co. of N. Y. v. New Jersey, 431 U. S. 1, 19, n. 17. While changes in the laws that make a contract legally enforceable may trigger Contract Clause scrutiny if they impair the obligation of pre-existing contracts, even if they do not alter the contracts' bargained-for terms, the 1987 statute did not change the legal enforceability of the contracts here. The parties still have the same ability to enforce the bargained-for terms that they did before the 1987 statute's enactment. Petitioners' suggestion that every workplace regulation should be read into private employment contracts would expand the definition of contract so far that the Contract Clause would lose its purpose of enabling individuals to order their personal and business affairs according to their particular needs and interests; would cause the Clause to protect against all changes in legislation, regardless of those changes' effect on bargained-for agreements; would severely limit the ability of state legislatures to amend their regulatory legislation; and could render the Clause entirely dependent on state law. Pp. 186-191. 2. The 1987 statute did not violate the Due Process Clause. Its retroactive provision was a rational means of furthering the legitimate legislative purpose of correcting the results of the Chambers opinion. Cf. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation v. R. A. Gray & Co., 467 U. S. 717, 730. It preserved the legislative compromise that had been struck by the 1980-1981 laws—giving workers injured before 1982 their full benefits without coordination, but not the greater increases made to subsequently injured workers—and equalized the payments made by employers who had relied on Chambers with those who had not, cf. United States v. Sperry Corp., 493 U. S. 52, 64-65. Pp. 191-192. 436 Mich. 515, 462 N. W. 2d 555, affirmed.
O'Connor, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
Kenneth S. Geller argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs were Stephen M. Shapiro, Mark I. Levy, James D. Holzhauer, Charles A. Rothfeld, Lawrence C. Marshall, John M. Thomas, Theodore Souris, Martha B. Good-loe, and Daniel G. Galant.
Theodore Sachs argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief for respondents Romein and Gonzalez were
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