Sacramento Typographical U. No. 46 v. St. of Calif

Opinion

JANES, J.

Defendant State of California appeals from the judgment in a class action filed by plaintiff union and its officers on behalf of members of the union who are hourly wage employees of the state at its printing plant in Sacramento.

The action was for declaratory relief. The judgment held, inter alia, that the printing plant employees were entitled to the same paid holidays

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as are generally allowed to state employees under section 18025 of the Government Code.

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Defendant attacks this aspect of the judgment.

Upon its enactment in 1945, former section 13581 provided that “At no time shall the compositors, bookbinders, pressmen or assistants [employed at the state printing plant] be paid a lower rate of wages than the average wage paid by those employing such mechanics in Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles for like work.” In 1957 section 13581 was substantially amended to read as follows: “Pressmen, typographers, linotypers, compositors, bookbinders, lithographers, engravers, apprentices and assistants and all other employees of the State Printing Plant employed in allied work shall be paid on an hourly wage basis. The basic wage of such employees shall be the same hourly wage paid to persons in similar and comparable employment by private business in the City of Sacramento. In addition to such wages, and the rights and privileges afforded state employees under the provisions of the State Civil Service Act, and other statutes, there shall be paid to each such employee of the State Printing Plant, either directly or to a health and welfare fund on his behalf, an amount equal to the contributions paid to health and welfare plans to employees in comparable employment by private business in the City of Sacramento.” In 1965 section 13581 was replaced by section 14876, which is identical except that it substitutes the words “Office of State Printing” for the designation “State Printing Plant” in former section 13581.

The State Personnel Board was required by law to administer section 13581, and it has the same duty as to section 14876. (See Cal. Const., art. XXIV, § 4; Gov. Code, § 18850.) Ever since 1945, employees to whom sections 13581 and 14876 applied have been allowed by the board only the same paid holidays as are granted by private industry to workers in comparable employment in the City of Sacramento. The holidays thus afforded comprise fewer paid holidays than other state employees receive under section 18025. In support of its claim that the trial court erred, defendant places sole reliance on this long-standing practice of the State Personnel Board; and defendant invokes the rule that “The contemporaneous construction of a statute by those charged with its enforcement and interpretation, although not necessarily controlling, ‘is entitled to great weight, and courts generally will not depart from such construction unless it is clearly erroneous and unauthorized.’ [Citations.]”