Section 14876.

(a) Pressmen, typographers, linotypers, compositors, bookbinders, lithographers, engravers, apprentices and assistants and all other employees of the Office of State Printing employed in allied work shall be paid on an hourly wage basis. The basic wage of those employees shall be the prevailing hourly wage paid to persons identified by the Department of Human Resources to be in similar and comparable employment by private printers in the major metropolitan areas in California. The Department of Human Resources shall accept and give validity to certified copies of agreed upon contracts submitted by either the employer, the employer group, or the employee organization.

The Department of Human Resources shall survey only major employers where there are agreed upon contracts. If any agreed upon contract contains any provision or provisions that do not reflect the actual practice of the employer, the Department of Human Resources shall disregard the provision or provisions.

If the Department of Human Resources finds that salary relationships between surveyed classes do not accurately reflect relationships in duties and responsibilities of employees of the Office of State Printing, the department shall adjust those wage rates on an equitable basis notwithstanding the survey findings.

As used in this section, prevailing wages and prevailing benefits means wages and benefits arrived at through negotiation between an employer or employer organization and an employee organization that is the bona fide representative of the employer's employees and certified as the bona fide representative by the Director of Industrial Relations. In order to be so certified, the employee organization shall be free from employer influence and domination.

(b) In addition to these 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 employee of the Office of State Printing, either directly or to a health and welfare fund on his or her behalf, an amount equal to the prevailing individual contributions paid to health and welfare plans for employees in similar and comparable employment by private printers in the major metropolitan areas. Where those contracts do not disclose the dollar value of health and welfare benefits, the state shall provide the same or substantially the same level of benefits as provided for in the agreed upon contracts. Any adjustments made pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section shall be effective as of March 1, 1977, and each March 1, thereafter.

(c) As an alternative to subdivision (b), a person first employed to any position described in subdivision (a) after October 1, 1977, may elect to become an "employee" as defined in paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) of Section 22772 within 90 days of commencing that employment.

Any person who is a member of a health and welfare plan described in subdivision (b) who loses eligibility for participation in the plan, or if the plan of which the person is a member ceases to exist, that person may elect to become an "employee," as defined in paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) of Section 22772, within 90 days of the date that eligibility is lost or the plan ceases to exist.

(d) In no instance shall the wages and the health and welfare contributions paid by the state to the persons covered under this section be less than the dollar amount paid as of the effective date of this section.

(e) If the provisions of this section are in conflict with the provisions of a memorandum of understanding reached pursuant to Section 3517.5, the memorandum of understanding shall be controlling without further legislative action, except that if the provisions of a memorandum of understanding require the expenditure of funds, the provisions may not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act.

(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 665, Sec. 51. Effective January 1, 2013.)