2023 New York Laws › WKC - Workers' Compensation › Article 7 - Miscellaneous Provisions. › 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.