Do part-time and seasonal workers count toward the five in Mississippi?

Usually yes. Mississippi’s statute asks whether five people are employed regularly, not whether five are working at once. According to the claims guide of the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Educational Association, a practitioners’ summary that says it is not official Commission guidance, what counts is how big the operation is and whether it depends on five or more workers to keep running, and that can hold true even if the five are never all on the payroll at the same moment. Picture a restaurant with three full-time cooks plus two people who only work weekends: that is a five person operation. A landscaping business that brings on two seasonal hands each spring is in the same position. Your quietest week is not the number to go by. When staffing moves back and forth across five, the guide encourages an employer in doubt to buy coverage, which beats guessing, because a wrong guess lands on you personally.

Can a Mississippi business owner opt out of workers compensation coverage?

Yes, but only for three kinds of owner, and the choice also changes your headcount. Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-5 allows a business, acting through a proper written decision of its own governing authority, to exempt its sole proprietor, a partner in a partnership, or any employee who owns at least fifteen percent of a corporation’s shares. The exemption from the Workers’ Compensation Law only works if that owner also agrees to it voluntarily and in writing. Once exempt, the owner no longer counts toward the five workers that make coverage mandatory. That is the reverse of states where an owner who opts out still counts toward the threshold. A shareholder with less than fifteen percent of the stock has no such election and counts like any other employee.

Where do Mississippi employers buy workers compensation insurance?

From a private insurance company, or by getting the Commission’s approval to self-insure. Mississippi has no state fund selling workers compensation policies, and the Commission recognizes only those two ways for a covered employer to guarantee that benefits will be paid. If carriers in the voluntary market will not write you a policy, the fallback is the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Assigned Risk Plan, which exists under Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-111; the Commission sends employers applying to that plan to the National Council on Compensation Insurance. Self-insurance, whether an employer does it alone or as part of a group, is governed by Commission Rule 1.7. Individual and group self-insurers alike need audited financials, security of no less than $100,000 and excess insurance; a group also pays a $5,000 filing fee and must show a combined member net worth of at least $1,000,000.

What are the penalties for not carrying workers compensation in Mississippi?

Criminal, civil and personal, all at once. Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-83 makes it a misdemeanor for an employer that must secure compensation to fail to do so, with a fine of up to $1,000, up to one year of imprisonment, or both. When the employer is a corporation, its president, secretary and treasurer each face that fine or jail term, and each is personally liable, together with the company, for any compensation that comes due while it has no coverage. On top of that, the Commission can impose a civil penalty of up to $10,000, decided case by case. And under section 71-3-9, an injured worker can bring a tort lawsuit instead, one in which the uninsured employer cannot raise the fellow servant, assumption of risk or contributory negligence defenses.

How fast does a Mississippi work injury have to be reported?

The employee gets thirty days, and your side of the paperwork moves faster. Under Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-35, a claim cannot go forward unless the employer, or one of its officers, managers or designated representatives, actually learned of the injury within thirty days of it happening. If the posted notice names no representative, telling any superior is enough. Your own step comes next: Commission Rule 2.1 has employers report injuries on the Commission’s prescribed forms, and the claims guide of the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Educational Association, which is not official Commission guidance, asks you to fill out a First Report of Injury and get it to your carrier or third party administrator right away whenever the injury keeps the worker out past the shift on which it occurred. When the lost time runs past the five day waiting period, section 71-3-67 gives the carrier, or a self-insured employer, ten days to file with the Commission.

What does a Mississippi employer have to post for workers compensation?

A Notice of Coverage, built to the Commission’s specifications. Under Commission Rule 1.8, a covered employer has to display this form where people at the workplace will plainly see it, and the form cannot be smaller than 8 1/2 by 11 inches. Five things go on it: the carrier’s name, address and telephone number, or a statement that you are self-insured; the same contact details for your third party administrator, if you use one; the dates your coverage or self-insurance certificate is in effect; the name of the person connected with your business who receives injury reports; and a fraud warning that cites Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-69. A second document hangs beside it. Section 10 of the 2012 amendments, Senate Bill 2576, requires every covered employer to post the Commission’s written summary of those changes next to the Notice of Coverage within ten days after it arrives.

Who picks the treating doctor in a Mississippi workers compensation claim?

The employee does, but only after you have provided care. Commission Rule 1.9 makes the opening move yours: choose competent doctors, hospitals and other treatment, and provide them right away, emergency services included. From there the injured worker has a choice. He can stay with the care you arranged, or he can pick one competent physician himself, along with any specialists that doctor refers him to, capped at one physician per specialty. Any further choice of doctor, or any further referral, needs advance approval from you or your carrier, unless an emergency calls for immediate medical attention. When that approval is refused, the employee can ask the Commission to authorize the treatment.

Mississippi Workers Compensation: Employer Rules

Q: How many employees before Mississippi requires workers compensation?

Five. According to the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, workers compensation insurance becomes mandatory once an employer regularly employs five people, while an employer with fewer than five is not required to carry it but may choose to buy a policy voluntarily. The rule traces back to Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-5, which covers every individual, firm and private corporation that regularly has five or more workers in the same business or at the same establishment, under any hiring contract, spelled out or implied. Revenue plays no part in the test, and there is no separate test by industry either. For a covered employer, protection begins on each worker’s first day on the job, with no waiting period before a new hire is insured and no minimum amount the worker has to earn.

Mississippi requires workers compensation at five regular employees. Coverage, exclusions, the posted notice, injury deadlines and penalties for employers.

Nick Anisimov

FirstHR Founder

Mississippi•

August 18, 2026

•

12 min

Mississippi Workers Compensation

Five regular employees turns the mandate on, owners who sign an exemption drop out of the count, and the notice on your wall has to name the person who takes injury reports

An owner near Hattiesburg once told me he had four employees, so the workers compensation question did not apply to him. Four was the number on that week's payroll, but he also had a weekend counter hand and two summer helpers who came back every year.

Mississippi does not count the way he was counting, so this guide starts with how it does count, then covers who is left out, where to buy the policy, what to post, the injury deadlines and what going without costs.

The statute says five or more workers employed regularly, and regularly is doing a lot of work in that sentence. The flip side is that Mississippi lets certain owners sign themselves out of the system and then drops them from the headcount entirely, which is a break most states do not give.

For the general mechanics of how this insurance works anywhere in the country, see our guide to workers compensation insurance.

TL;DR

Mississippi requires workers compensation once you regularly employ five or more people. Owners who file a written exemption drop out of that count. There is no state fund: buy from a private carrier or qualify to self-insure. Going without means a misdemeanor fine up to $1,000, a Commission civil penalty up to $10,000 and personal liability for corporate officers.

Who Has to Carry Coverage

Coverage becomes mandatory at five employees. The Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission states it without hedging on its workers compensation facts page: all employers with five employees regularly employed are required to provide coverage, and if the employer has fewer than five, coverage is not mandatory but may be provided voluntarily.

The statute underneath that sentence is Miss. Code Ann. (Mississippi Code Annotated) section 71-3-5. It reaches every person, firm and private corporation that has in service five or more workmen or operatives regularly in the same business or in or about the same establishment under any contract of hire, express or implied.

In plain terms, a business regularly using five or more workers is covered, whether the hire was written, spoken or simply understood. There is no revenue test on top of that.

Protection starts immediately for anyone covered. Commission materials say the worker is covered and eligible for benefits as soon as he or she begins employment, with no waiting period and no minimum earnings requirement.

Counting to Five

The word that decides the count is regularly, not simultaneously. The claims guide of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Educational Association, a practitioners' summary that says it is not official Commission guidance, reads the test as the size of the operation and whether five or more employees are regularly used to carry it on, even if all five are not employed at the same time. Headcount on your slowest week is not the answer.

That catches businesses whose staffing swings. A shop with three year-round staff and two seasonal hands is running on five. So is a crew where the fifth position turns over constantly but is always filled. When the count is genuinely borderline, the same claims guide says an employer in doubt is encouraged to obtain coverage.

An exempted owner leaves the count, and that cuts both ways

Mississippi is unusual here. Under Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-5, a sole proprietor, a partner, or an employee who owns fifteen percent or more of the corporate stock may be exempted by written action of the business if that person also agrees in writing. Anyone who becomes exempt that way is then excluded from the total number of workers counted toward the threshold of five. So a six person company can drop to five, or to four, on paper. Get the written action and the written agreement into the file, because the exemption is what the headcount rests on if the Commission ever asks.

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Who Sits Outside the Act

Mississippi excludes several groups from the Act, its workers compensation law, and one of those exclusions applies however large the employer grows. Nonprofit charitable, fraternal, cultural and religious corporations and associations are carved out of the definition of covered employer in section 71-3-5, so the five employee threshold never reaches them at all.

Worker or employer type	Mississippi treatment	What the employer does
Sole proprietor	Covered unless exempted by written election	The business elects exemption by proper written action of its governing authority, and the owner agrees in writing (section 71-3-5). The exempted owner then leaves the count toward five
Partner in a partnership	Covered unless exempted by written election	Same written election, same removal from the headcount
Employee owning 15 percent or more of the stock	Covered unless exempted by written election	Same written election. Below fifteen percent there is no election available and the person counts as an ordinary employee
Nonprofit charitable, fraternal, cultural or religious organizations	Outside the Act regardless of size	Excluded from the definition of covered employer. Coverage may still be purchased voluntarily
Domestic servants	Not included under the chapter	No policy is required for household staff under the Act
Farmers and farm labor	Not included under the chapter	The exemption does not apply to the processing of agricultural products when carried on commercially
Federal employees	Outside the Act	Covered by the federal compensation program instead of the Mississippi Law
Transportation and maritime employment under federal law	Outside the Act	The Act does not apply where a rule of liability is provided by the laws of the United States
Independent contractors	Ordinarily excluded from coverage	The Commission notes that special protection is given to employees of subcontractors, so an uninsured sub can pull exposure back onto you
Owner operators and their drivers	Covered by the motor carrier unless they prove their own coverage	The owner operator must give the motor carrier a certificate of workers compensation coverage, proof of a self-insured plan, or an occupational accident policy of at least $1,000,000
A pure buyer and seller or vendor and vendee relationship	Not employment under the Act	A carrier is prohibited from charging premium for a person who is a seller or vendor rather than an employee
Employers with fewer than five regular employees	Coverage not mandatory	Buying a policy anyway is an assumption of liability under the Act, effective from the date the coverage starts and for as long as it stays in force

That last row is the one owners miss. Section 71-3-5 says the purchase and acceptance of valid workers compensation insurance by an exempt employer constitutes an assumption of the liability imposed by the chapter without any further act. In plain terms, buying the policy is the decision: a four person shop that buys one has joined the system on purpose.

The contractor line is the other trap, because the exposure runs both directions. Call a worker a contractor when the control test says otherwise and you have an uninsured employee on a job site. In the other direction, an uninsured sub can pull exposure back onto you, because the Commission gives special protection to employees of subcontractors.

Where to Buy the Policy

A Mississippi employer buys from a private insurance carrier, and there is no state fund selling policies as an alternative. The Commission describes the duty in exactly two ways: a covered employer secures the payment of benefits by purchasing insurance from an insurance company, or by obtaining Commission approval to self-insure.

If no carrier will write you a policy in the ordinary, voluntary market, there is a fallback. Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-111 provides for a Mississippi Workers' Compensation Assigned Risk Plan for employers that in good faith are entitled to insurance but cannot obtain it, and the Commission directs those applications to the National Council on Compensation Insurance.

Route	Who it fits	What it takes
Private carrier, voluntary market	Nearly every small employer	A policy from a carrier licensed in Mississippi, placed through an agent or broker. The carrier files your proof of coverage through the National Council on Compensation Insurance under Commission Rule 1.3
Assigned risk plan	Employers declined in the voluntary market	Application through the plan provided for by Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-111. The Commission points applicants to the National Council on Compensation Insurance
Individual self-insurance	Large employers with audited financials	Application on the Commission’s form with full replies to every inquiry and all supporting documents, a showing of financial ability to pay compensation, and adequate security (Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-75 and Commission Rule 1.7)
Individual self-insurance, after approval	Same	Security set by the Commission and never less than $100,000, an excess insurance policy naming the Individual Self-insurer Guaranty Association as an additional insured, audited financials every year and an actuarial report every three years
Group self-insurance	Members of a common trade or business group	A $5,000 nonrefundable filing fee, security of at least $100,000, proof that each member has paid at least 25 percent of its first year estimated premium, and an annual certificate of authority
Group self-insurance, to renew	Same	Combined net worth of all members of at least $1,000,000, audited financials six months after fiscal year end, specific or aggregate excess insurance acceptable to the Commission, and rates and rating plans approved by the Commission at least 90 days before renewal

One Mississippi-specific way to lower the premium is worth knowing. The Drug-Free Workplace Workers' Compensation Premium Reduction Act at Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-201 and following lets an insurer grant a 5 percent premium discount to employers who run a qualifying program.

The discount is the carrier's choice to offer, not a right. The Commission has adopted no forms or procedures for it, so its published guidance tells employers to apply to their insurer directly, in whatever form the insurer prescribes, and to certify again each year.

A cancellation notice starts a 30 day clock on you

Commission Rule 1.5 requires a carrier to give thirty days notice before canceling a policy, and then puts the next move on the employer: on or before the thirtieth day after receiving that notice, furnish proof of new coverage. Failure to do it is treated as a violation of Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-9 and carries the penalties in section 71-3-83. A lapse between carriers is not a paperwork gap. It is the uninsured employer problem, with all of it attached.

The Notice You Post

Mississippi handles employee notice through a posted form rather than a handout. Commission Rule 1.8 requires every covered employer to keep a Notice of Coverage in a conspicuous place in and about its place of business, on a form measuring at least 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches, with five specific pieces of information on it.

The table lists those five, plus a sixth item posted beside the notice.

What the notice must contain	Why it matters
Name, address and telephone number of the carrier, or a statement that the employer is self-insured	This is the line an injured worker and the Commission look for first
Name, address and telephone number of the third party administrator, if any	Names the office actually processing and paying claims on behalf of the carrier or self-insured employer
Effective dates of the coverage or of the self-insurance certificate of authority	A posted notice showing expired dates is worse than no notice, because it dates your lapse
The name of the person affiliated with the employer to whom employees should report injuries	Section 71-3-35 lets an employee give notice to any superior if no representative has been designated by posters, so this line is what narrows it
A fraud warning referencing Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-69	A willfully false statement to obtain or wrongfully withhold benefits is a felony, and the notice has to say so
The Commission statement on the 2012 amendments, posted adjacent to the notice	Required within ten days of receipt of the statement, alongside the Notice of Coverage required by section 71-3-81

The full text of Commission Rule 1.8 sets out those five items word for word. The 2012 statement posted beside the notice comes from the statute rather than the rule: Section 10 of Senate Bill 2576, the 2012 amendments to the compensation law, requires it. Everything else on your wall comes from other state and federal posting rules.

Put the designated person into onboarding, not just onto the wall

Nothing in the Commission's rules requires a workers compensation pamphlet to be handed to a new hire. Rule 1.8 puts the whole employee notice duty on the posted form. That makes the fourth line on it, the name of the person who takes injury reports, the one that decides arguments later. Say the name out loud during onboarding and record that you did. When the notice designates nobody, section 71-3-35 treats notice to any superior as sufficient, and the date the clock started becomes whatever a supervisor remembers.

Injury Reporting Deadlines

Two reporting clocks run at once, one for the employee and one for you. The employee has thirty days under Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-35 to get actual notice to the employer or to an officer, manager or designated representative. Your own reporting duty starts the moment you have that notice, and Commission Rule 2.1 has employers report injuries on the forms the Commission prescribes.

The Educational Association's claims guide, which is not official Commission guidance, tells employers to complete a First Report of Injury, Form B-3, and file it with the carrier or third party administrator immediately upon receiving notice of an injury. That applies whenever the injury costs the worker more than the shift on which it occurred. The carrier then files with the Commission, which receives first reports through electronic data interchange.

Step	Who acts	Deadline	Authority
Give notice of the injury	Employee	Within 30 days of the occurrence, to the employer or an officer, manager or designated representative	Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-35(1). No form
Send the First Report of Injury to the carrier	Employer	Immediately upon notice, when the injury costs more than the shift on which it happened	Form B-3, under Commission Rule 2.1. Timing per the Educational Association’s claims guide, not official Commission guidance
File the First Report with the Commission after lost time	Carrier or self-insurer	Within 10 days after the five day waiting period has been satisfied	Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-67, filed by electronic data interchange
File after a permanent or disfiguring injury with no lost time	Carrier or self-insurer	Within 10 days after knowing, or reasonably being expected to know, that permanent disability or serious head or facial disfigurement will result	Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-67
File after a death	Employer if self-insured, otherwise the carrier	Within 10 days after the fatal termination of the injury	Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-67
Pay the first installment of compensation	Employer or carrier	Due on the 14th day after the employer has notice of the injury or death, then every 14 days	Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-37(2)
Controvert the claim	Employer or carrier	On or before the 14th day after knowledge of the alleged injury or death	Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-37(4), Form B-52
Notify the Commission that payment began or was suspended	Employer or carrier	Immediately on making the first payment and on any suspension	Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-37(3), Form B-18
Notify the Commission of final payment	Employer or carrier	Within 30 days after the final payment of compensation	Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-37(7), Form B-31
File a claim when nothing has been paid	Employee	Within two years of the date of injury or death	Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-35(1), Form B-5,11
Report a fatality or hospitalization to OSHA	Employer	8 hours for a fatality, 24 hours for an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye	Federal rule, on its own clock

The OSHA row is the one small employers fold into the rest. OSHA, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is a different agency, with a different report and a different deadline under 29 CFR 1904.39, and filing a B-3 with your carrier does nothing to satisfy it.

Penalties for Going Without

Going without coverage in Mississippi means criminal, civil and courtroom exposure rather than the stop-work order some states use. Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-83 carries a misdemeanor charge and a Commission civil penalty, and a second statute removes the protection that makes workers compensation worth having in the first place.

That second statute is section 71-3-9, and it is the expensive one. An employee injured in the course and scope of employment for an uninsured employer may sue in tort, meaning bring an ordinary personal injury lawsuit, instead of proceeding under the Act.

In that suit the employer may not plead that the injury was caused by a fellow servant, that the employee assumed the risk, or that the employee was contributorily negligent. Put plainly, you cannot blame a coworker, argue that the worker accepted the dangers of the job, or point to the worker's own carelessness.

Violation	Exposure
Failing to secure the payment of compensation when required	Misdemeanor. Fine of not more than $1,000, imprisonment for not more than one year, or both (section 71-3-83(1))
The same failure, on the civil side	A Commission civil penalty set case by case, not to exceed $10,000, deposited into the Administrative Expense Fund and collectible by civil suit (section 71-3-83(4))
Being an officer of an uninsured corporation	The president, secretary and treasurer are severally liable to the fine or imprisonment, and severally personally liable jointly with the corporation for any compensation accruing while it was uninsured
Moving, hiding or disposing of property after an employee is injured	A separate misdemeanor for an uninsured employer, with the same fine and imprisonment exposure (section 71-3-83(2))
An injury while uninsured	The employee may sue in tort, and the fellow servant, assumption of risk and contributory negligence defenses are gone (section 71-3-9)
Failing to report an injury on time	A Commission penalty of up to $100 against the employer or carrier after notice, and up to $100 more that an administrative judge or the Commission may add to the award (section 71-3-67)
Paying an installment late	10 percent added to an installment unpaid 14 days after it is due, and 20 percent on an installment payable under an award (section 71-3-37(5) and (6))
Letting coverage lapse after a cancellation notice	Failure to furnish proof of coverage by the thirtieth day is a violation carrying the section 71-3-83 penalties (Commission Rule 1.5)
A false or misleading statement to obtain or withhold benefits	Felony. Fine of up to $5,000 or double the value of the fraud, whichever is greater, imprisonment up to three years, or both (section 71-3-69)

Enforcement is not passive either. The Commission has told employers, carriers and self-insurers in writing that it monitors compliance with the reporting duties in sections 71-3-67 and 71-3-37 electronically, and that non-compliance may draw the penalties in those sections plus additional penalties, fees or expenses under section 71-3-59.

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What to Do When Someone Gets Hurt

The first step is medical, not administrative. Commission Rule 1.9 puts the duty on the employer to select competent physicians, hospitals and other treatment and to immediately furnish those services, including all emergency services.

Furnish care immediately, then step back on the choice of doctor

Get the worker treated. Rule 1.9 and Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-15(1) then give the employee the right to accept what you furnished or to select one competent physician of his own choosing, plus referrals from that physician limited to one within a specialty. Additional selections need your approval in advance, except in an emergency.

Write down the date and hour you learned of it

Every clock in this system runs from the employer’s notice. The 14 day payment deadline, the 14 day deadline to controvert (formally dispute) the claim and the reporting duties all start there, so the date you learned of the injury is the single most important entry in the file.

Complete Form B-3 and send it to the carrier immediately

The Educational Association’s claims guide says to file the First Report of Injury with your carrier or third party administrator immediately upon receiving notice, if the injury costs the worker more than the shift on which it occurs. Send it to the carrier, not to the Commission.

Track lost time from day one, in half days if that is what happened

No compensation except medical is allowed for the first five days of disability. If the disability reaches 14 days or more, compensation is allowed from the date of disability, so the first five days become payable retroactively. Attendance records decide which side of that line you are on.

Confirm the carrier filed and started paying

The carrier files with the Commission by electronic data interchange within 10 days after the waiting period is satisfied. The first installment is due on the 14th day after your notice, and a late installment picks up a 10 percent penalty. Confirm both happened rather than assuming.

Keep the injury record and produce it on request

Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-65 and Commission Rule 2.1 require the employer to keep a record of all injuries and make it available to the Commission on request. That record is also what settles a disputed notice date two years later.

Handle OSHA and return to work on separate tracks

Federal reporting runs on its own deadline, and the return-to-work conversation with the treating physician is a separate conversation that decides how long the claim stays open.

The failure mode I see in small companies is not bad faith, it is memory. Nobody writes down who was told, on what date, or which doctor was offered. FirstHR keeps the incident record and the acknowledgment in one place.

The employee file sits right beside them, so the dates a Mississippi claim turns on are not living in a supervisor's text messages.

What the Policy Pays

A Mississippi policy pays up to two-thirds of the injured worker's own average weekly wage, subject to a statutory weekly cap the Commission republishes every year, plus whatever medical care the injury requires.

Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-13 ties that cap to the state as a whole: compensation can be no more than two-thirds of the average weekly wage for the state, with a floor of $25.00 per week outside partial dependency and partial disability cases.

Benefit	Amount	How it works
Weekly maximum	$654.63 for injuries on or after January 1, 2026	The worker receives the lesser of two-thirds of his own average weekly wage or this cap
Weekly minimum	$25.00	Applies only in death or total disability cases, not in partial dependency or partial disability claims
Total recovery cap	$294,583.50 for injuries on or after January 1, 2026	450 weeks times the weekly maximum, exclusive of medical payments under section 71-3-15
Waiting period	No compensation except medical for the first five days	If the disability runs 14 days or more, compensation is allowed from the date of disability
Payment interval	First installment due on the 14th day after the employer has notice	Then every 14 days until concluded, unless the Commission sets a different period
Death benefits	$1,000 immediate lump sum to the surviving spouse, funeral expenses up to $5,000	Plus 35 percent of the deceased worker’s average wages to a surviving spouse and 10 percent for each child, capped in total at two-thirds
Medical benefits	Whatever the nature of the injury or the process of recovery requires	No deductible falls on the employee, and no provider may bill the employee above what the carrier paid
Travel to treatment	$0.76 per mile from July 1, 2026	Paid at the rate authorized for state travel under Commission Rule 1.14

Those figures are what the premium is buying. The premium itself is calculated on payroll and class codes, the rating categories for each type of work, rather than on headcount, which is why a year-end audit can move the number after the fact.

The current weekly maximum and the total recovery cap both come from the Commission's maximum benefit and mileage rate chart, which is the page to check each January rather than trusting a number copied into a handbook two years ago.

The mileage rate can also change midyear. Mississippi reimburses state travel at the federal privately owned vehicle rate, which rose to $0.76 a mile from July 1, 2026, and Rule 1.14 carries that rate straight into workers compensation travel.

Last checked: September 26, 2026

These rules change. The weekly maximum and the total recovery cap reset on January 1 each year, and the mileage rate follows the state travel rate, which moved on July 1, 2026. Early January is still the natural time to re-check this page against the Commission's own chart. The statutory rules on this page reflect Miss. Code Ann. sections 71-3-5, 71-3-9, 71-3-13, 71-3-25, 71-3-35, 71-3-37, 71-3-67 and 71-3-83, and the Commission rules in force since January 18, 2018, with Rule 1.7 as amended June 12, 2022. No workers compensation bill affecting them passed in the 2025 or 2026 regular sessions. Verify before you rely on a figure in a live claim.

Key Takeaways

Coverage is mandatory once you regularly employ five or more people, and the test is whether five are regularly used to run the operation, not whether five are on the clock at the same moment.

A sole proprietor, partner or fifteen percent shareholder can be exempted by written election and then leaves the count toward five, while nonprofit charitable, fraternal, cultural and religious organizations, domestic servants and farm labor sit outside the Act at any size.

There is no Mississippi state fund, so you buy from a private carrier, use the assigned risk plan through the National Council on Compensation Insurance, or qualify to self-insure under Commission Rule 1.7.

Post a Notice of Coverage of at least 8 1/2 by 11 inches naming your carrier, your administrator, the coverage dates and the person who takes injury reports, with the Commission’s 2012 amendment statement beside it.

The employee has 30 days to give notice, you send Form B-3 to your carrier immediately, and the carrier files with the Commission within 10 days after the five day waiting period is satisfied.

Going without coverage is a misdemeanor with a fine up to $1,000 and up to a year in jail, a civil penalty up to $10,000, personal liability for corporate officers, and the loss of the fellow servant, assumption of risk and contributory negligence defenses.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many employees before Mississippi requires workers compensation?

Five. The Commission states that every employer with five regularly employed workers must provide coverage, and that below five it is voluntary. The rule sits in Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-5, which applies to any person, firm or private corporation regularly using five or more workers in the same business, under any contract of hire. Coverage then starts on a worker's first day, with no waiting period.

Do part-time and seasonal workers count toward the five?

Usually. The statute counts workers employed regularly, so the claims guide of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Educational Association, which is not official Commission guidance, looks at how large the operation is and whether it routinely relies on five or more people, even if they are never all employed at the same time. Three full-timers plus two seasonal hands who come back every year is a five person operation.

Can a Mississippi business owner opt out of coverage?

Yes, in three defined cases. Through proper written action, the business can exempt a sole proprietor, a partner, or an employee holding fifteen percent or more of the corporate stock, as long as that person signs on in writing too. An exempted owner then drops out of the count toward the five employee threshold, the opposite of how most states handle it.

Does Mississippi have a state workers compensation fund?

No. The Commission describes only two ways to secure the payment of benefits: buy a policy from an insurance company, or obtain Commission approval to self-insure. Employers the voluntary market declines apply to the assigned risk plan under Miss. Code Ann. section 71-3-111, and the Commission directs those applications to the National Council on Compensation Insurance.

What are the penalties for not carrying coverage?

A misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000, up to one year in jail, or both, plus a Commission civil penalty of up to $10,000 set case by case. In a corporation the president, secretary and treasurer are personally on the hook, jointly with the company, for compensation accruing while it was uninsured. The injured worker can also sue in tort with the usual defenses stripped away.

How fast does a work injury have to be reported?

The employee should give actual notice within 30 days, to the employer or a designated representative. You complete Form B-3 and send it to your carrier immediately whenever the injury costs more than the shift it happened on. The carrier files with the Commission by electronic data interchange within 10 days after the five day waiting period is satisfied.

What has to be posted at a Mississippi workplace?

A Notice of Coverage at least 8 1/2 by 11 inches, in a conspicuous place, showing the carrier or self-insured status, the third party administrator, the effective coverage dates, the person who takes injury reports, and a fraud warning under section 71-3-69. The Commission's written statement on the 2012 amendments goes up adjacent to it.

Who picks the treating doctor?

The employee, after the employer has furnished care. Rule 1.9 requires the employer to select competent providers and furnish services immediately, including emergency care. The employee may then accept those services or choose one physician of his own, plus one referral within a specialty. Anything beyond that needs advance approval from the employer or carrier.

Injury paperwork is one piece of a larger state picture, and the next items to check are E-Verify, new hire reporting and your other posting duties.

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Compliance