N.Y. Workers' Compensation Law § 131: Payroll records

§ 131. Payroll records. (1) Every employer subject to the provisions

of this chapter shall keep a true and accurate record of the number of

his or her employees, the classification of employees, information

regarding employee accidents and the wages paid by him or her for a

period of four years after each entry therein, which records shall be

open to inspection at any time, and as often as may be necessary to

verify the same by investigators of the board, by the authorized

auditors, accountants or inspectors of the carrier with whom the

employer is insured, or by the authorized auditors, accountants or

inspectors of any workers' compensation insurance rating board or bureau

operating under the authority of the insurance law and of which board or

bureau such carrier is a member or the group trust of which the employer

is a member. Any and all records required by law to be kept by such

employer upon which the employer makes or files a return concerning

wages paid to employees shall form part of the records described in this

section and shall be open to inspection in the same manner as provided

in this section. Any employer who shall fail to keep such records, who

shall willfully fail to furnish such record as required in this section

or who shall falsify any such records, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor

and subject to a fine of not less than five nor more than ten thousand

dollars in addition to any other penalties otherwise provided by law,

except that any such employer that has previously been subject to

criminal penalties under this section within the prior ten years shall

be guilty of a class E felony, and subject to a fine of not less than

ten nor more than twenty-five thousand dollars in addition to any

penalties otherwise provided by law.

(2) Employers subject to subsection (e) of section two thousand three

hundred four of the insurance law and subdivision two of section

eighty-nine of this chapter shall keep a true and accurate record of

hours worked for all construction classification employees. The willful

failure to keep such record, or the knowing falsification of any such

record, may be prosecuted as insurance fraud in accordance with the

provisions of section 176.05 of the penal law.

(3) The chair, upon finding that an employer has failed to keep true

and accurate records as required by this section, may impose upon such

employer, in addition to all other penalties, fines or assessments

provided for in this chapter, one thousand dollars for each ten day

period of non-compliance or a sum not in excess of two times the cost of

compensation for its payroll for the period of such violation, which sum

shall be paid into the uninsured employers' fund created under section

twenty-six-a of this chapter. When an employer fails to provide business

records sufficient to enable the chair to determine the employer's

payroll for the period requested for the calculation of the penalty

provided in this section, the imputed weekly payroll for each employee,

corporate officer, sole proprietor, or partner shall be the New York

state average weekly wage, multiplied by 1.5. Where the employer is a

corporation, the corporation and any of the following shall be liable

for the penalty provided in this subdivision: the president, secretary

and treasurer. If the employer shall within thirty days after notice of

the imposition of a penalty by the chair pursuant to this subdivision

make an application in affidavit form for a redetermination review of

such penalty, the chair shall make a decision in writing on the issues

raised on such application.