Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 27 - STATE PERSONNEL BOARD › Part 210 - PERS, Regulations for Retirement Plans Administered by the Board of Trustees › Chapter 34 - Reemployment after Retirement › Section 27-210-34-109 - Reemployment as an Independent Contractor

Current through June 25, 2024
A retiree must have incurred a bona fide separation from
				  service with all covered employers after retirement for at least the 90-day
				  separation period prior to being engaged to perform services as an independent
				  contractor. For purposes of this regulation, this term shall mean any
				  individual (or firm for which an individual performs substantially all the
				  work) who contracts to do a piece of work according to his or her own methods
				  without being subject to the control of his or her employer except as to the
				  results of the work, and who has the right to employ and direct the outcome of
				  the workers independent of the employer and who is free from any superior
				  authority in the employer to say how the specified work shall be done or what
				  the laborers shall do as the work progresses, or one who undertakes to produce
				  a given result without being in any way controlled as to the methods by which
				  he attains the result.
After the requisite 90-day separation period as defined in
				  Section 106, a retiree may contract to provide such services as a true
				  independent contractor outside the limitations of Section 103 while in receipt
				  of a retirement allowance. However, prior to contracting for such services,
				  such retiree must submit to PERS for its approval, documentation, including but
				  not limited to, the following: the nature of the engagement, including services
				  to be performed; how the services were performed previously, including whether
				  they were performed by an employee and whether the independent contractor
				  previously performed those services as an employee; nature of compensation and
				  treatment of expenses; where the services are to be performed, i.e. on the
				  service recipient's premises; who provides the equipment to perform the
				  services; whether the service provider provides such services to other service
				  recipients; whether such services are offered for other persons through
				  advertising or other solicitation and if so; whether the service provider has
				  provided such services to any other service recipient in the last year and if
				  so to how many; whether there is a written contract for the performance of such
				  services; and other information to substantiate that the service provider is a
				  true independent contractor and not an employee. In addition, PERS will utilize
				  the IRS test as a factor in determining whether an individual is an employee
				  versus an independent contractor in making this determination.
If, after a review of all pertinent information, PERS
				  determines that the individual will be performing services as a true
				  independent contractor, the retiree will be notified of same and contracting
				  for such services shall not affect his or her retirement allowance. If,
				  however, PERS determines that such individual is actually an employee, the
				  retirement allowance will be terminated and benefits repaid unless such
				  reemployment follows the guidelines and limitations of this
				  regulation.