Does Mississippi require workers’ compensation insurance?
Yes, once a business regularly has five or more employees. Mississippi Code 71-3-5 puts every person, firm, and private corporation with five or more workers regularly in the same business under the Workers' Compensation Law; below five, coverage is voluntary. Domestic servants, farm labor, and nonprofit charitable, fraternal, cultural, or religious organizations are outside the law. A sole proprietor, partner, or 15% shareholder can be exempted in writing, and then drops out of the five-worker count.
Updated . Written by Andre Beukers, principal at Redoubt, a commercial insurance agency in Salt Lake City, not a government office.
How many employees before Mississippi requires workers' comp?
Mississippi's requirement starts at five. Under Miss. Code 71-3-5, an employer is any person, firm, or private corporation that has five or more workmen or operatives regularly in the same business, or in or about the same establishment, under any contract of hire. A business with fewer than five is not required to carry coverage but may buy it voluntarily. Domestic servants, farmers and farm labor, and nonprofit charitable, fraternal, cultural, or religious organizations are excluded; commercial processing of farm products is not.
An employer under five that buys a policy anyway comes under the law for the employees that policy covers, from the policy's effective date, under the same section of 71-3-5.
Source: Miss. Code 71-3-5 (reprinted in 2019 SB 2835), checked .
Which owners, officers, and family members are exempt in Mississippi?
Miss. Code 71-3-5 lets a business, by written action of its own governing authority, exempt its sole proprietor, a partner, or an employee who owns 15% or more of its stock, as long as that person also agrees in writing. Anyone exempted this way is left out of the five-worker count. A corporate officer who owns less than 15% cannot be exempted this way, and the section has no separate carve-out for family members.
Owner-operator truckers have their own rule in 71-3-5: the owner-operator and their drivers must give the motor carrier a workers' comp certificate, proof of self-insurance, or an occupational accident policy of at least $1,000,000. Without that proof, they fall under the motor carrier's workers' comp program, and the motor carrier can collect the premium from the owner-operator.
Source: Miss. Code 71-3-5 (reprinted in 2019 SB 2835), checked .
What happens to a Mississippi employer with no workers' comp?
Under Miss. Code 71-3-83, an employer that is required to carry coverage and does not is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to one year in jail, or both. The Workers' Compensation Commission can also assess a civil penalty of up to $10,000, set case by case. In a corporation, the president, secretary, and treasurer face the same criminal penalty and are personally liable, jointly with the company, for benefits owed to an employee hurt while it was uninsured.
Under Miss. Code 71-3-9, an employee hurt while the employer is uninsured can claim benefits or sue the employer in court, and the employer cannot argue that the worker was negligent, assumed the risk, or was hurt by a co-worker's carelessness.
Source: Miss. Code 71-3-83 (reprinted in 2019 HB 405), checked .
Who enforces workers' comp in Mississippi?
The Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission in Jackson administers the law. It supervises and monitors claims, approves individual and group self-insurers, audits the groups, and assesses the civil penalty for going uninsured. It does not pay benefits or sell coverage: an employer meets the requirement by buying insurance from an insurance company or by getting the Commission's approval to self-insure.
Source: Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission, Workers' Compensation Facts, checked .
Where do Mississippi employers buy coverage?
Mississippi has no state fund to buy from. Employers buy a policy from a private insurance company or, with the Commission's approval, self-insure alone or in a group; the Commission reports about 120 individual self-insured companies and 13 groups. A business no voluntary carrier will write applies to the Mississippi assigned risk pool, and the Commission sends those applications to NCCI.
Source: Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission, Self-Insurance FAQ, checked .
Who sets the class codes and rates in Mississippi?
Mississippi is an NCCI state. The National Council on Compensation Insurance, licensed in Mississippi as a rate service organization, files recommended loss costs for the voluntary market and rates for the assigned risk market with the Mississippi Insurance Department. Class codes and experience mods follow NCCI's system; each carrier sets its own pricing on top of the approved loss costs.
Source: NCCI, State Advisory Resources: Mississippi, checked .
Is there an exemption or waiver form in Mississippi?
No. Mississippi has no state waiver or exemption certificate, and the Commission's forms list carries no exemption form. The owner exemption in Miss. Code 71-3-5 is made inside the business: a written action of its governing authority, plus the exempted person's own written agreement. Keep both with the company records and give a copy to your carrier so the policy and the payroll audit reflect it.
What contractors ask for is a certificate. Under Miss. Code 71-3-7, a general contractor is responsible for workers' comp on a subcontractor's employees unless the subcontractor has secured it, so a hiring contractor may require a certificate of insurance from a small sub that is under the state's threshold.
Source: Miss. Code 71-3-5 (reprinted in 2019 SB 2835), checked .
Sorting out Mississippi workers' comp for your business
Tell Redoubt what the business does, who works in it, and what the Mississippi requirement in front of you says. We will say whether a policy, a waiver, or an exclusion fits.
This is general insurance information, not legal advice or a coverage determination. Statutes, agency instructions, policy forms, and the facts of the business control.
Workers’ comp requirements in every state
Each state page gives the employee threshold, the owner and officer exemptions, the penalty for going without, the rating bureau, the market, the enforcing agency, and the exemption filing, each with its statute or agency source.
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The hub, and the Mississippi pages that go deeper
Mississippi workers’ comp FAQ
Do I need workers' comp in Mississippi with fewer than five employees?+
Not by state law; Miss. Code 71-3-5 starts at five regular workers, and below that coverage is voluntary. A general contractor can still require it, because under 71-3-7 the contractor answers for an uninsured sub's employees.
Do owners and officers count toward Mississippi's five employees?+
A sole proprietor, partner, or employee owning 15% or more of the stock drops out of the count once the business exempts them in writing and they agree in writing, under 71-3-5. Officers who own less than 15% cannot use that exemption.
Is there a workers' comp waiver or exemption certificate in Mississippi?+
No. The Workers' Compensation Commission does not issue one. The 71-3-5 owner exemption is a written action of the business plus the owner's written agreement, kept with the company and given to the carrier. When a contract calls for proof of coverage, the usual answer is a certificate from a policy.
Does a Mississippi owner-operator truck driver need workers' comp?+
The owner-operator must give the motor carrier proof of workers' comp, self-insurance, or an occupational accident policy with at least $1,000,000 of coverage, under 71-3-5. Without it, the owner-operator and their drivers are covered under the motor carrier's program and the carrier can charge them the premium.