Mississippi Overtimer Laws
If your employer is withholding your hard-earned compensation for the excess hours that you worked, it’s imperative that you understand the Mississippi overtime laws and how they affect you.
If you have questions, speak with professional overtime attorney, Travis Hedgpeth, today.
States have the power to create, implement, and administer their specific overtime laws. However, Mississippi hasn’t implemented state labor laws for employers to follow. When an attorney says Mississippi overtime laws, they mean the labor laws enforced by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD). Employers must comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and minimum wage provisions (FLSA).
If you need an overtime lawyer, call The Hedgpeth Law Firm, PC today for a free no-obligation case evaluation.
Mississippi labor laws overtime
Like any other state, Mississippi requires paying overtime wages for time worked over 40 hours in any given workweek. The federal pay policy sets a premium overtime rate at 1.5 times an employee’s regular hourly wages. Both mandatory and voluntary overtime hours count towards paid time.
However, if you’re an exempt employee, then the Mississippi overtime laws do not apply to you. There’s a long list of employees who don’t qualify for overtime. Exemptions are essentially based on an employee’s job duties and salary. The most common exempt workers include:
· Employees with the executive or administrative positions and who are earning at least $684 per week
· Computer professionals who make $27.63 or more per hour
· Professional employees like teachers and lawyers
· Employees of recreational establishments
· Fishermen
· Taxicab drivers
· Some agricultural workers
· Outsides salesperson
· Salaried employees earning $684 or more per week (35,568 annually).
Please note this is not an exhaustive list of exempt employees. Visit the Mississippi Department of Labor or consult an overtime attorney to understand the exemption rules that apply to your industry.
Minimum Wage Rate in Mississippi
Mississippi employers cannot pay their workers less than $7.25 per hour. However, this only applies to employees of companies, organizations, and institutions covered by FLSA.
While FLSA covers tipped employees, their minimum wage is $2.13 per hour. But does not mean tipped employees earn less than the federal minimum wage. There is a legal condition for the $5.12 tip credit employers take. If the tips received are insufficient to bring the hourly wages to the federal minimum pay limit, an employer must pay the difference.
For a free legal consultation with Travis Hedgpeth, call (281) 572-0727.
Rest and meal breaks
Even though breaks are not mandatory under Mississippi overtime laws, there are circumstances where the law comes into play. Short breaks that do not last more than 20 minutes are considered part of paid time.
Employers providing long rest and meal breaks (30 minutes or more) are not obliged to pay. Nevertheless, if an employee is not relieved of all their job duties during breaks, the law recognizes that time worked and should count towards overtime.
Statute of limitations
Mississippi has a 2-year and 3-year statute of limitations. It means that if you file a lawsuit, you can only recover unpaid overtime of up to 2 or 3 years, depending on the nature of the wage violations.
Don't allow wage theft
If your employer doesn’t follow the overtime laws in Mississippi, you can file an unpaid overtime lawsuit. Contact The Hedgpeth Law Firm, PC at (281) 572-0727 to recover your rightfully earned wages.
