Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 20 - Labor › Part 101 - REGULATIONS OF THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY › INTRODUCTION › Chapter 600 - CONTRIBUTIONS › Section 20-101-600-603.00 - Employment

Current through June 25, 2024
(A) Independent Contractors
The Law provides that 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. Generally, the relationship
					 exists when the person for whom services are performed has the right to control
					 and direct the individual who performs the services, not only as to the result
					 to be accomplished by the work but also as to the details and means by which
					 the result is accomplished. That is, an employee is subject to the will and
					 control of the employer not only as to what shall be done, but how it shall be
					 done. In this connection, it is not necessary that the employer actually direct
					 or control the manner in which the services are performed; it is sufficient if
					 he or she has the right to do so. The right to discharge is also an important
					 factor indicating that the person possessing that right is an employer Other
					 factors characteristic of an employer are the furnishing of tools and the
					 furnishing of a place to work to the individual who performs the service. In
					 general, if an individual is subject to the control or direction of another
					 merely as to the result to be accomplished by the work and not as to the means
					 and methods for accomplishing the result, he or she is an independent
					 contractor, not an employee.
If the relationship of employer and employees exists, the
					 designation or description of the relationship by the parties as anything other
					 than that of employer and employee is immaterial. Thus, if two (2) individuals
					 in fact stand in relation of employer and employee to each other, it is of no
					 consequence that the employee is designated as a partner, co-adventurer, agent,
					 or independent contractor.
The measurement, method, or designation of compensation is
					 also immaterial, if the relationship of employer and employee in fact
					 exists.
Generally, physicians, lawyers, dentists, veterinarians,
					 contractors, subcontractors, public stenographers, auctioneers, and others who
					 follow an independent trade, business, or profession, in which they offer their
					 services to the public, are independent contractors and not employees.
Whether or not persons performing services, directly or
					 indirectly, for an employing unit are employees depends upon the particular
					 facts in each case. No single test is conclusive and 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. They
					 shall furnish to the Agency 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 shall have been complied with and their status shall
					 have been otherwise determined by the Agency after a decision has been made by
					 the Agency relative to the employer-employee relationship, and the business has
					 been notified by mail or electronically. The business has the right within ten
					 (10) days from the transmittal date of this decision to protest the decision
					 and request a hearing before the Agency, as provided in Section
					 71-5-355(2)(b)(ix)
					  of the Law.
(B) Employed Individuals
The words employ, "employer", and "employee", as used
					 herein, are to be taken in their ordinary meaning. An employer, however, may be
					 an individual, a corporation, partnership, a limited liability company, trust,
					 estate, association, joint-stock company, insurance company, or corporation, or
					 other recognized business organization, whether domestic or foreign, syndicate
					 group, or entity. An employer may be a person acting in a fiduciary capacity or
					 on behalf of another, such as a guardian, committee, trustee, executor or
					 administrator, trustees in bankruptcy, receiver, assignee, for the benefit of
					 creditors, or conservator.
An individual is in the employment or employ of another
					 within the meaning of the Law if he performs a service, including service in
					 interstate commerce, for such other, for wages or under any contract of hire,
					 written or oral, expressed, or implied. The relationship between the individual
					 who performs such service and the person for whom such service is rendered must
					 be the legal relationship of employer and employee. The Law makes no
					 distinction between classes or grades of employees. Thus, superintendents,
					 managers, and other superior employees are employees within the meaning of the
					 Law.
Whether the relationship of employer and employee exists,
					 will in questionable cases be determined upon examination of the particular
					 facts of each case.