Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the following shall apply regarding assignment of rates and transfers of experience:
(a) (1) If an employer transfers its trade or business, or a portion thereof, 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 or business shall be transferred to the employer to whom such business is so transferred. The rates of both employers shall be recalculated and made effective immediately upon the date of the transfer of trade or business. The transfer of some or all of an employer's workforce to another employer shall be considered a transfer of trade or business when, as a result of such transfer, the transferring employer no longer performs the trade or business with respect to the transferred workforce, and such trade or business is performed by the employer to whom the workforce is transferred.
(2) If, following a transfer of experience under paragraph (1) of this section, the Commissioner determines that a substantial purpose of the transfer of trade or business was to obtain a reduced liability for contributions, then the experience rating accounts of the employers involved shall be combined into a single account and a single rate assigned to such account.