WV Code § 23-2-2 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-2. Commission to Be Furnished Information by Employers, State Tax Commissioner and Division of Unemployment Compensation; Secrecy of Information; Examination of Employers, etc.; Violation a Misdemeanor

(a) Every employer shall furnish the executive director, upon request, all information required by him or her to carry out the purposes of this chapter. Every employer shall have a continuous and ongoing duty to maintain current information about its activities, risks and rates on the books of the commission. The Executive Director, or any person employed by the commission for that purpose, may examine under oath any employer or officer, agent or employee of any employer.(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other statute to the contrary, specifically, but not exclusively, sections five and five-b, article ten, chapter eleven of this code and section eleven, article ten, chapter twenty-one-a of this code, the Executive Director of the Workers' Compensation Commission may receive the following information:(1) Upon written request to the State Tax Commissioner: The names, addresses, places of business and other identifying information of all businesses receiving a business franchise registration certificate and the dates thereof; and the names and social security numbers or other tax identification numbers of the businesses and of the businesses' workers and employees, if otherwise collected, and the quarterly or other applicable reporting period and annual gross wages or other compensation paid to the workers and employees of businesses reported pursuant to the requirement of withholding of tax on income.(2) Upon written application to the Division of Unemployment Compensation: In addition to the information that may be released to the Workers' Compensation Commission for the purposes of this chapter under the provisions of chapter twenty-one-a of this code, the names, addresses and other identifying information of all employing units filing reports and information pursuant to section eleven, article ten, chapter twenty-one-a of this code as well as information contained in those reports regarding the number and names, addresses and social security numbers of employees employed and the gross quarterly or other applicable reporting period wages paid by each employing unit to each identified employee.(c) All information acquired by the Workers' Compensation Commission pursuant to subsection (b) of this section shall be used only for auditing premium payments, assisting in a wage determination, assisting in the determination of employment status and registering businesses under the single point of registration program as set forth in article twelve, chapter eleven of this code. The Workers' Compensation Commission, upon receiving the business franchise registration certificate information made available pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, shall contact all businesses receiving a business franchise registration certificate and provide all necessary forms to register the business under the provisions of this article. Any officer or employee of this state who uses the information obtained under this section in any manner other than the one stated in this section or elsewhere authorized in this code, or who divulges or makes known in any manner any of the information obtained under this section, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or incarcerated in the county or regional jail for not more than one year, or both together with cost of prosecution.(d) Reasonable costs of compilation and production of any information made available pursuant to subsection (b) of this section shall be charged to the Workers' Compensation Commission.(e) Information acquired by the commission pursuant to subsection (b) of this section is not subject to disclosure under the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-b of this code.(f) The right to request, gather and maintain information set forth in this section shall transfer to the Insurance Commissioner and the industrial council upon termination of the commission.