27-14-207. Employer registration required; person acquiring trade of another employer; transfer of experience and assignment of rates; out of state employers.

(a) Any employer subject to this act shall not commence business or engage in work in this state without applying for coverage under this act and receiving a statement of coverage from the division.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, a person acquiring the trade, organization, business or substantially all of the assets of an employer subject to this act shall assume the previous employer's account, experience rating and premium rate as assigned by the division, provided the previous employer is not participating in the premium deductible program under W.S. 27-14-201(t). If the previous employer is participating in the premium deductible program, the acquiring person shall assume the previous employer's account, experience rating and premium rate as determined without premium deductible program eligibility. The acquiring person shall assume the premium rate which is in effect at the time of the acquisition based on the existing account's classification, experience rating and any surcharge which may apply, as determined without premium deductible program eligibility.

(c) A person acquiring the trade, organization, business or substantially all of the assets of any employer subject to this act whose owners or shareholders have not held an ownership interest in the employer being acquired within one (1) year previous to the date of acquisition shall assume the previous employer's account number, experience rating and premium rate as assigned by the division, provided the previous employer is not participating in the premium deductible program under W.S. 27-14-201(t). If the previous employer is participating in the premium deductible program, the acquiring person shall assume the previous employer's account, experience rating and premium rate as determined without premium deductible program eligibility.

(d) The transfer of some or all of an employer's workforce to another person shall be considered a transfer of trade or business when, as a result of the transfer, the transferring employer no longer performs trade or business with respect to the transferred workforce, and the trade or business is performed by the person to whom the workforce is transferred.

(e) If an employer transfers all or a portion of its trade or business to another employer and, at the time of the transfer, there is substantially common ownership, management or control of the two (2) employers, then the workers' compensation experience attributable to the transferred trade or business shall be transferred to the employer to whom the business is transferred. The rates of both employers shall be recalculated and made effective the first day of the calendar quarter immediately following the date of the transfer of trade or business.

(f) If, following a transfer of experience under this section, the department determines that a substantial purpose of the transfer of the trade or business was to obtain a reduced premium liability, then the accounts of the employers involved shall be combined into a single account.

(g) If a person is not an employer under this section at the time the person acquires the trade or business of an employer, the workers' compensation experience of the acquired employer shall not be transferred to the person if the department finds that the person acquired the trade or business of the employer solely or primarily for the purpose of obtaining a lower premium rate. Instead, the person shall be assigned the applicable industry base rate in effect at the time of the acquisition. In determining whether the trade or business was acquired solely or primarily for the purpose of obtaining a lower premium rate, the department shall use objective factors which may include the cost of acquiring the business, whether the person continued the business enterprise of the acquired business, how long the business enterprise was continued, or whether a substantial number of new employees were hired for performance of duties unrelated to the business activity conducted prior to acquisition.

(h) Where an employer has not had prior operations in Wyoming and has not had prior worker's compensation insurance coverage in Wyoming, and moves or expands operations from another state into Wyoming, and begins operations that are the same or similar to operations outside of Wyoming, the division shall assign the employer experience modification rate as calculated per the current experience modification rating formula in place at the time. The division shall assign such experience modification to the partial year ending June 30 after the start of coverage in Wyoming and to the first full policy year subsequent to the start of coverage in Wyoming.

(j) The division by rule and regulation shall establish procedures to identify the transfer or acquisition of a business, or the movement of an out of state operation to Wyoming, for purposes of this section and W.S. 27-14-806. The division may require by regulation an out of state employer to submit any information necessary for the purpose of determining an experience modification rate under subsection (h) of this section.