Mississippi Administrative Code
Title 27 - Personnel
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

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.