§ 573. Collection of contributions in case of default. 1. Civil actions. If an employer shall default in any payments required to be made by him to the fund, after due notice, the amount due from him shall be collected by civil action against him brought in the name of the commissioner, and the same, when collected, shall be paid into the fund. Such employer's compliance with the provisions of this article requiring payments to be made to the fund shall date from the time of the payment of said money so collected.

Civil actions brought in the name of the commissioner under this section to collect contributions, interest, or penalties from an employer shall be entitled to preference, conferred by law to actions brought by any state officer as such, upon the calendar of all courts.

2. Warrants. In addition and as an alternative to any other remedy provided by this article and provided that no appeal or other proceeding for review provided by title eight of this article shall then be pending and the time for the taking thereof shall have expired, the commissioner may issue a warrant under his official seal, directed to the sheriff of any county, commanding him to levy upon and sell the real and personal property which may be found within his county of an employer who has defaulted in the payment of any sum determined to be due from such employer for the payment of such sum together with interest, penalties, and the cost of executing the warrant, and to return such warrant to the commissioner and to pay into the fund the money collected by virtue thereof within sixty days after the receipt of such warrant. The sheriff shall within five days after the receipt of the warrant file with the clerk of his county a copy thereof, and thereupon such clerk shall enter in the judgment docket the name of the employer mentioned in the warrant and the amount of the contribution, interest, and penalties for which the warrant is issued and the date when such copy is filed. Thereupon the amount of such warrant so docketed shall become a lien upon the title to and interest in real property and chattels real of the employer against whom the warrant is issued in the same manner as a judgment duly docketed in the office of such clerk. The sheriff shall then proceed upon the warrant in the same manner, and with like effect, as that provided by law in respect to executions issued against property upon judgments of a court of record, and for his services in executing the warrant he shall be entitled to the same fees, which he may collect in the same manner.

In the discretion of the commissioner a warrant of like terms, force, and effect may be issued and directed to any officer or employee of the department of labor who may file a copy of such warrant with the clerk of any county in the state, and thereupon each such clerk shall docket it and it shall become a lien in the same manner and with the same force and effect as hereinbefore provided with respect to a warrant issued and directed to and filed by a sheriff; and in the execution thereof such officer or employee shall have all the powers conferred by law upon sheriffs, but he shall be entitled to no fee or compensation in excess of the actual expenses paid in the performance of such duty.

If a warrant is returned not satisfied in full, the commissioner shall have the same remedies to enforce the amount thereof as if the commissioner had recovered judgment for the same.