#3 is not correct, but
#4: "Never am I late for work"
is excellent. The problem with #3 is that it separates the adverb "never" from the word that it modifies ("late"). "Never" likes to be next to the word it modifies.
#4 works because "never" is next to the word it modifies, which is "am".
So #1 and #4 are quite different. #1 speaks of "never late", while #4 speaks of "never am".