Employers in Mississippi should follow their own policies regarding earned, unused vacation time.
Mississippi Labor Laws
Mississippi Minimum Wage
In Mississippi, there isn’t a distinct state minimum wage law. Therefore, employers are required to adhere to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
Mississippi Labor Law Posters
Simplify labor law compliance and make workplace policies visible with J. J. Keller state and federal labor law posters.
History of Mississippi Labor Laws
In Mississippi, employers adhere to the federal minimum wage law. The current rate of $7.25 per hour has been in effect since 2009. Before that, the minimum wage was $6.55 in 2008 and $5.85 in 2007.
Municipality Minimum Wage Laws
Since 2013, local governments in Mississippi have been prohibited from establishing their own minimum wage laws.
Mississippi Minimum Wage Exemptions
Employers in Mississippi should adhere to the federal rules on exemptions from minimum wage requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act. These exemptions include:
- Executive, administrative, and professional employees
- Outside sales employees and those in certain computer-related occupations
- Employees of certain seasonal amusement or recreational establishments
- Certain farm workers
- Casual babysitters and companions to the elderly or infirm
Mississippi Posting Requirements
Required posters:
- Unemployment Insurance
- Workers' Compensation
- Notice Concerning Changes to the Workers' Compensation
Tipped Wage in Mississippi
In Mississippi, employers can pay tipped employees the federal tipped wage rate of $2.13 per hour. However, if the combined amount of this wage and the employee’s tips does not reach the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, the employer must compensate for the shortfall.
Overtime Wage in Mississippi
Mississippi does not have its own overtime law. However, employers must comply with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which mandates that employees be paid time-and-a-half for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
Employees exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirements in Mississippi include:
- Executive, administrative, and professional employees
- Outside sales employees and those in certain computer-related occupations
- Employees of certain seasonal amusement or recreational establishments
- Certain farm workers
- Casual babysitters and companions to the elderly or infirm
- Certain commissioned employees of retail establishments, auto and other sales workers, and certain parts clerks and mechanics
- Taxi drivers and certain other employees in the transportation industry
- Announcers, news editors, and chief engineers of certain non-metropolitan broadcasting systems
- Domestic service workers living in the employer’s residence
- Employees of motion picture theaters
- Farm workers
Child Labor Laws in Mississippi
State law in Mississippi allows minors aged 14 and 15 to work in factories, mills, canneries, or workshops for up to eight hours per day and 44 hours per week, between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. However, federal law is more restrictive, limiting 14- and 15-year-olds to three hours per day and 18 hours per week during school weeks, and eight hours per day and 40 hours per week during non-school weeks.
Employer Recordkeeping Requirements in Mississippi
Mississippi employers are required to maintain the following records for at least three years:
- Employee’s full name and Social Security number
- Address, including zip code
- Birth date, if younger than 19
- Sex and occupation
- Time and day of week when the employee’s workweek begins
- Hours worked each day and total hours worked each workweek
- Basis on which the employee’s wages are paid
- Regular hourly pay rate
- Total daily or weekly straight-time earnings
- Total overtime earnings for the workweek
- All additions to or deductions from the employee’s wages
- Total wages paid each pay period
- Date of payment and the pay period covered by the payment
Mississippi Labor Law Questions & Answers
Yes, small businesses in Mississippi must pay at least $7.25 per hour, as required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
State law allows minors aged 14 and 15 working in a factory, mill, cannery, or workshop to work up to eight hours per day and 44 hours per week, between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. However, federal law is stricter, limiting these minors to three hours per day and 18 hours per week during school weeks, and eight hours per day and 40 hours per week during non-school weeks.
Mississippi does not have its own overtime law. However, employers must comply with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires that employees be paid time-and-a-half for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
No, Mississippi state law does not require employers to provide breaks.
Mississippi Labor Law Posters
Simplify labor law compliance and make workplace policies visible with J. J. Keller state and federal labor law posters.