213 - Non-compliance or default.
§ 213. Non-compliance or default. 1. Whenever a covered employer does not comply with this article by providing for the payment of disability benefits to his employees in one or more of the ways provided in section two hundred eleven or whenever a carrier fails to pay the benefits required by this article to employees of a covered employer, then such employer shall be fully and directly liable to each of his employees for the payment of benefits provided by this article. The amount of the benefits to which employees of such employers are entitled under this article and attendance fees of their attending physicians or attending podiatrists fixed pursuant to subdivision two of section two hundred thirty-two shall, on order of the chairman, be paid out of the fund established under section two hundred fourteen. In case of non-compliance of the employer, such employer shall forthwith pay to the chairman, for credit to the fund, the sum so expended or one per cent of his payroll for his employees in employment during the period of non-compliance, whichever is greater; provided, however, that if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the chairman that the default in payment of benefits or the non-compliance of the employer otherwise with his obligation under this article was inadvertent, the chairman may fix the sum payable in such case for non-compliance or default at the amount paid out of the fund and a sum less than one per cent of such payroll, and in addition the penalties for non-compliance imposed under this article. In case of failure of the carrier to pay benefits, the employer shall forthwith pay to the chairman, for credit to the fund, the sum so expended. 2. Where a carrier authorized by the superintendent of insurance to do business in this state has failed to pay benefits on behalf of an employer pursuant to this article solely because an order of rehabilitation, conservation or liquidation has been issued by a court of competent jurisdiction of this or any other state or jurisdiction, the provisions of subdivision one of this section shall not apply as they relate to: (a) the payment of benefits to an employee if the policy of the employer's carrier is subject to the protection afforded by any guaranty fund pursuant to the insurance law; or (b) the reimbursement to the fund, created under section two hundred fourteen of this article, by an employer whose carrier has failed to pay benefits.