Mississippi labor laws, including Mississippi labor laws 2024, impact the daily lives of employees and employers in Mississippi. Residents of Mississippi have many questions that affect them every day regarding Mississippi labor laws from minimum wage rates, overtime, wage payments, vacation and sick leave, child labor, meal and rest breaks, and more.
In addition to Mississippi labor laws, employer must also comply with federal labor laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), and many other federal laws. And when federal laws are different from state Mississippi labor laws, usually companies must comply with the law that provides their workers the best protection.
Below we provide comprehensive information and resources regarding your more pressing Mississippi labor law questions to help you answer the question and help you make the right decision about you and your employment.
Minimum Wage
Mississippi has not established a minimum wage rate.
Although Mississippi does not have a set minimum wage, most workers are subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. This means that most workers in Mississippi are entitled to earn $7.25 per hour, as this is the federally set minimum wage.
For more information on Mississippi’s minimum wage laws, visit our Mississippi Minimum Wage Laws page, which includes topics such as minimum wage, tip minimum wage, tip sharing and pooling, and subminimum wages.
Related topics covered on other pages include:
Overtime
Mississippi also does not have overtime laws, but most workers are governed by federal overtime laws, which state that workers who work more than 40 hours per week will be paid 1.5 times their base salary for every hour worked over 40 hours.
See FLSA: Overtime for more information regarding overtime requirements.
Prevailing Wages
Mississippi does not have a prevailing wage law that governs wage rates on government projects or service contracts.
Under certain circumstances, employers in Mississippi may be required to pay residents wage rates established by federal prevailing wage rates and rules. The prevailing wage rates may be different from the federal and state’s standard minimum wage rates.
Employees may be eligible for prevailing wages if they work on government or government-funded construction projects or perform certain government services. See the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts, McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA), and Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act (PCA) for more information about prevailing wages.
Meals and Breaks
Mississippi labor laws do not have any laws requiring an employer to provide a meal period or breaks to employees, thus the federal rule applies. The federal rule does not require an employer to provide either a meal (lunch) period or breaks.
However, if an employer chooses to do so, breaks, usually of the type lasting less than twenty (20) minutes, must be paid. Meal or lunch periods (usually thirty (30) minutes or more) do not need to be paid, so long as the employee is free to do as they wish during the meal or lunch period. DOL: Breaks and Meal Periods.
Nursing Mother Breaks
Mississippi labor laws prohibit employers from preventing employees who are nursing mothers to express milk during any meal or rest break provided by the employers to the nursing mother employees either specifically for expressing breast milk or for general meal and/or break purposes.
Employees are not required to provide employees who are nursing mothers breaks to express breast milk if they do not provide breaks either specifically to express milk or for general milk and/or break purposes. MS Statute 71-1-55
Vacation Leave
There are no laws in Mississippi stating that employers have to provide unpaid or paid vacation benefits for their employees. There are also no laws about paying employees for accrued vacation time or whether a use-it or lose-it policy can be used.
Information about Mississippi vacation leave laws may now be found on our Mississippi Leave Laws page.
Sick Leave
Mississippi law states that employers are not required to provide unpaid or paid sick leave to employees. However, if a business offers sick benefits to its employees, they must comply and adhere to the terms set in the employment contract or established sick leave policy.
There are, however, cases where a Mississippi business might be obligated to give workers unpaid sick leave according to various federal laws and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Information about Mississippi sick leave laws may now be found on our Mississippi Leave Laws page.
Holiday Leave
Mississippi does not obligate employers to give any unpaid or paid holiday time off. However, a private business can require an employee to work during holiday hours.
Private employers are not obligated to pay their employees additional compensation for work during holidays unless these hours coincide with overtime hours.
If, however, an employer provides holiday leave, unpaid or paid, it must then adhere to the conditions set out in the established holiday leave policy or the employment contract.
Information about Mississippi holiday leave laws may now be found on our Mississippi Leave Laws page.
Jury Duty Leave
An employer in Mississippi must allow their employees to take time off to respond to a jury duty summons, as is required by law. However, an employer may not request or require that an employee uses sick leave, vacation time, or annual leave to serve on a jury.
Employers are also not allowed to intimidate, discharge, threaten or take any action against an employee for complying with a jury summons or sitting on a. An employer is not required to pay the employee’s wages for the time spent in court.
Information about Mississippi jury duty leave laws may now be found on our Mississippi Leave Laws page.
Voting Leave
There are no laws in Mississippi requiring employers to provide unpaid or paid time off to their employees to vote in an election.
Information about Mississippi voting leave laws may now be found on our Mississippi Leave Laws page.
Severance Pay
Mississippi labor laws do not require employers to provide employees with severance pay. If an employer chooses to provide severance benefits, it must comply with the terms of its established policy or employment contract.
Unemployment
Under certain circumstances, Mississippi residents may be eligible for unemployment benefits while they search for another job. You are required to certify that you are unemployed on a weekly basis to receive these benefits.
Workers in Mississippi must have made a minimum of $780 in the highest quarter of the base period and earned at least 40 times the weekly benefit amount in the base period to be eligible for unemployment benefits,
Moreover, the employee must be out of work due to no fault of their own and must be ready, willing, and able to work and actively seek employment.
See Mississippi State Unemployment Benefits.
Other Mississippi Labor Laws Topics and Resources
There are several other Mississippi labor laws governing the employers and their workplaces. Below are those topics and resources:
- Maine child labor laws for children 17 years of age and younger including topics including work during school hours and summer hours, school days and non-school days, summer days of employment (usually June 1 to Labor Day), hour restrictions, work permits, and hazardous occupations.
- Employees are protected by federal discrimination laws enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The state and federal discrimination laws offer employees protections and violations based on the following:
| Disability (a mental or physical impairment) | Sex, including sexual harassment | Gender expression | National Origin |
| Race | Sexual orientation | Religion | Ancestry |
| Creed | Gender identity | Age (40+) | Pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions |
| Color | Genetic information | Marital status |
- Mississippi labor laws regarding wage payment laws including covering frequency and manner of wage payments, regular paydays, payday, pay periods, deductions, direct deposit and payroll cards, wage statement, record keeping, final paychecks, and notice requirements.
- Mississippi labor laws regarding minimum wage and overtime exemptions covering non-exempt employees and exempt employees.
- Mississippi labor law regarding hours worked including rest breaks, meal breaks, on-call, waiting, travel, sleeping, and meeting times.
- Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) which covers federal workplace safety and health requirements.
- Active duty employees, including those in the national guard, and veterans may also be eligible for military leave under the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).
- The Maine Workers’ Compensation Commission manages workers’ compensation in Mississippi and worker compensation insurance claims and enforcement. Employees who are injured on the job may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits that minimizes the financial impact on the employee.
- Under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, employers in Mississippi are required to provide 60-day advanced notice to any employees that may be impacted by a business closing or mass layoff if 50 or more employees will be impacted.
- If Mississippi employers provide employees health insurance benefits, they must comply with the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) that provides health coverage protections to employees under certain circumstances such as voluntary or involuntary job loss, reduction in the hours worked, transition between jobs, death, divorce, and other life events.
- Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, employers must provide applicants and employees prior notice before conducting background checks involving credit reports. Other rules and limitation may also apply.
