Section 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.