(a) The following standards apply regarding assignment of rates and transfers of experience. For the purposes of AS 23.20.295(d)(1) and (4),

(1) if an employer transfers its trade or business, its workforce conducting the trade or business, or a portion of that trade, business, or workforce, to another employer and, at the time of the transfer, there is substantially common ownership, management, or control of the two employers, then the unemployment experience attributable to the transferred trade, business, or workforce is transferred to the employer to whom that trade, business, or workforce is transferred; the rates of both employers are recalculated and made effective immediately upon the date of the transfer;

(2) if a person is not an employer at the time the person acquires the trade, business, or workforce of an employer, the unemployment experience of the acquired trade, business, or workforce may not be transferred to that person if the commissioner finds that the person acquired the trade, business, or workforce in order to obtain a lower rate of contributions; instead, the person is assigned the applicable new employer rate under AS 23.20.170(b).

(b) An employer who knowingly or recklessly violates or attempts to violate, or who advises another employer to violate, (a) of this section or any other provision of this chapter related to determining the assignment of a contribution rate, or fails to notify the department of a trade, business, or workforce change or acquisition in order to obtain a more favorable rate of contributions, is not eligible for a rate determination under AS 23.20.280 - 23.20.310. The employer shall pay one of the following as assigned by the department:

(1) contributions at the highest rate provided for the rate year of the violation and for the three succeeding rate years; or

(2) if the employer's trade, business, or workforce is already at the highest rate for the rate year of the violation, contributions at the highest rate for the three succeeding rate years and a cash penalty of two percent of taxable wages for the rate year of the violation and three succeeding rate years.

(c) A person who knowingly or recklessly advises another person or employer to transfer or acquire a trade, business, or workforce under the provisions of this section in order to obtain a more favorable rate of contributions in violation of (a) of this section is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $5,000.

(d) The department may interpret and apply this section in such a manner as to meet the minimum requirements by the United States Department of Labor.