Mississippi Independent Contractor Agreement Template

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   Mississippi conditions the classification on a filing, not just on the facts. Regulation 603.00(A) requires every employing unit claiming a relationship other than employer-employee to make application to the agency for a determination of its status, to furnish a full and complete statement of all facts concerning the relationship, and to furnish a copy of the contract existing between them. Until that happens, the rule provides that all persons performing services for the employing unit shall be deemed employees.

2. 2

   Because the rule calls for a copy of the contract, an oral arrangement is not enough to support a contractor classification for unemployment insurance. That is the practical mandate: there is no prescribed clause, no font, and no disclosure wording anywhere in Mississippi law, but there does have to be a document capable of being copied and filed. Businesses used to papering contractor engagements informally are the ones most exposed here.

3. 3

   The determination comes back from the agency and starts a short clock. Once the agency has made its decision on the employer-employee relationship and notified the business by mail or electronically, the business has ten days from the transmittal date to protest and request a hearing under Miss. Code Ann. 71-5-355(2)(b)(ix). That window is easy to miss when the notice lands with routine agency mail.

4. 4

   Mississippi does not use an ABC test, and national summaries that say otherwise are wrong. Miss. Code Ann. 71-5-11(I)(14) contains exactly one prong: services performed for wages are deemed employment unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the department that the individual has been and will continue to be free from control and direction over the performance of such services both under his contract of service and in fact. The subsection then routes the question to the principles of the common law governing the relation of master and servant. There is no outside-the-usual-course prong and no independently-established-trade prong.

5. 5

   What Mississippi shares with ABC states is the burden frame, not the content. The deemed to be employment unless and until formulation creates a rebuttable presumption of employment with the burden on the employing unit, but the rebuttal is pure common law control. That distinction matters when drafting: the useful recitals are about who directs the details and means of the work, not about whether the service falls outside the hiring business's usual course.

6. 6

   There is no Mississippi minimum wage or overtime law at all. The United States Department of Labor lists Mississippi among the states with no state minimum wage law and states that employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must pay the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Wage and hour classification therefore runs on the federal economic realities standard, which is broader than the control test the state applies for unemployment insurance, so a worker can be a contractor for state unemployment purposes and an employee under federal wage law.

7. 7

   No local ordinance fills that gap either. Miss. Code Ann. 17-1-51 provides that no county, board of supervisors of a county, municipality, or governing authority of a municipality is authorized to establish a mandatory minimum living wage rate or a minimum number of vacation or sick days, paid or unpaid, that would regulate how a private employer pays its employees. Workers' compensation is a separate track again, and an unemployment determination does not decide it.

Mississippi Requirements for Independent Contractor Agreement

• Agency Application and Filing of the Contract (MDES Regulation 603.00(A))

  Every employing unit claiming the existence of a relationship other than that of employer-employee shall make application to the agency for determination of its status and shall furnish a full and complete statement of all facts concerning its relationship with the person claimed to be an independent contractor, together with a copy of the contract existing between them. All persons performing services for any employing unit shall be deemed employees unless and until this rule has been complied with and their status has otherwise been determined by the agency. The regulation is made under Miss. Code Ann. 71-5-115 and 71-5-117.

• A Document Must Exist to Be Copied and Filed (MDES Regulation 603.00(A))

  The rule prescribes no clause, recital, term, font, or disclosure wording, but it does presuppose a contract capable of being copied and filed, which means an oral arrangement cannot support a contractor classification for unemployment insurance purposes. Prepare a signed agreement that accurately describes the engagement before work begins, and keep the filed copy with the agency correspondence.

• Ten-Day Protest Window After the Determination (Miss. Code Ann. 71-5-355(2)(b)(ix))

  After the agency decides the employer-employee question and notifies the business by mail or electronically, the business has ten days from the transmittal date to protest and request a hearing. Because the notice arrives as ordinary agency correspondence, assign responsibility for reviewing it so the window is not lost by default.

• Single-Prong Control Test, Not ABC (Miss. Code Ann. 71-5-11(I)(14))

  Services performed by an individual for wages shall be deemed to be employment unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the department that such individual has been and will continue to be free from control and direction over the performance of such services both under his contract of service and in fact, and the relationship of employer and employee shall be determined in accordance with the principles of the common law governing the relation of master and servant. There is no outside-the-usual-course prong and no independently-established-trade prong.

• Presumption of Employment With the Burden on the Employing Unit (Miss. Code Ann. 71-5-11(I)(14))

  The deemed to be employment unless and until formulation is a rebuttable presumption of employment placing the burden on the employing unit. The rebuttal is decided on common law control rather than on statutory prongs, so the evidence that matters is who directs the details and means of the work, who supplies the tools and workplace, and who bears the risk of loss.

• No State Minimum Wage or Overtime Act (Federal FLSA Applies)

  Mississippi has no state minimum wage or overtime statute, and the United States Department of Labor lists it among the states with no state minimum wage law, noting that employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must pay the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Wage and hour classification is therefore decided under the federal economic realities standard, which is broader than the state control test and can produce a different answer for the same worker.

• Local Wage and Leave Ordinances Are Preempted (Miss. Code Ann. 17-1-51)

  No county, board of supervisors of a county, municipality, or governing authority of a municipality is authorized to establish a mandatory minimum living wage rate or a minimum number of vacation or sick days, whether paid or unpaid, that would regulate how a private employer pays its employees. There is no city or county wage layer to review alongside the state and federal rules.

• Contractor Liability for a Subcontractor's Compensation Coverage (Miss. Code Ann. 71-3-7)

  In the case of an employer who is a subcontractor, the contractor shall be liable for and shall secure the payment of compensation to employees of the subcontractor unless the subcontractor has secured such payment. This provision prescribes no written contract and no contract terms, so it is a liability rule rather than a document mandate, but it is the reason to require a current certificate of insurance from any contractor bringing its own workers onto a job.