When the premium on a policy insuring an employer is based upon the amount or segregation of the employer’s payroll, and the employer, personally or knowingly through his or her employee, procures a lower premium by willfully misrepresenting the amount or segregation, that misrepresentation is an unlawful act as to the employer.

In addition to any penalty provided by law, the employer in that case is liable to the state in an amount 10 times the difference between the lower premium paid and the premium properly payable. The commissioner shall collect the amount so payable and may bring a civil action in his or her name as commissioner to enforce collection unless the misrepresentation is made to, and the lower premium procured from the State Compensation Insurance Fund. In the latter case the liability to the state under this section shall be enforced in a civil action in the name of the State Compensation Insurance Fund and any amount so collected shall become a part of that fund.

(Added by Stats. 1989, Ch. 1099, Sec. 1. Effective September 30, 1989.)