Filing a Worker’s Compensation Claim in Mississippi:

When a worker is injured, they should report the injury to their employer as soon as possible. The employer should then fill out an Employer's First Report of Injury or Occupational Disease form and submit it to their insurance carrier and also to the Workers' Compensation Commission if the injury results in lost time over five days. An employee is entitled to seek out a medical professional of their choice to receive treatment, though insurance carriers may also request an exam by their own selected doctor.

Mississippi Worker’s Compensation Benefits:
If you are allowed to return to light work temporarily and earns less than he or she had been earning before the injury, benefits based on 2/3rds of the difference in the pre-injury and post-injury wages could be payable.

If you suffer a permanent impairment because of the injury, additional benefits could be payable based on the extent to which that permanent impairment causes a loss of the ability to earn wages.

If you are unable to return to any job because of injury, workers’ compensation benefits are payable for a maximum of 450 weeks. Loss of both hands, arms, legs, feet or eyes, or any combination, is permanent total disability.

Medical benefits can be payable for the life of an injured worker if necessary, although there are some limitations.

Mississippi Worker’s Compensation Waiting Period:
Medical benefits are paid regardless of the number of days missed from work. If the injured worker suffers fewer than 14 days of disability (days on which the worker is unable due to injury to earn his regular wage) as the result of a job related injury, wage loss payments are not made for the first 5 days. Payment will be made only for the number of days of disability in excess of 5. This is known as the 5 day waiting period. If the worker suffers 14 or more days of disability, then wage loss payments are made for the total period of disability, including the first 5 days.

Mississippi Worker’s Compensation Contact Information:
Liles Williams, Chairman
Workers’ Compensation Commission
1428 Lakeland Drive
P. O. Box 5300
Jackson, MS 39296-5300<
 (601) 987-4200  (601) 987-4200 or  1-866-473-6922  1-866-473-6922

NOTICE: These questions and answers concern Mississippi law only, and should not be construed nor relied upon as reflecting the law in other States, nor as giving legal advice. You are warned that circumstances often vary greatly and that, due to changing decisions and law, the answers to these questions may change over time and not be current, and you should consult an attorney in any specific case, and NOT rely on these questions and answers as giving anything other than general information.