Mississippi Severance Pay Laws (2026): Is Severance Required?

Mississippi law does not require employers to pay severance, and Mississippi has no state plant-closing or mass-layoff law. We searched every labor chapter of Title 71 of the Mississippi Code and found no section that mentions severance pay, so in Mississippi severance exists only when an employer's contract, plan or policy promises it.

The one place Mississippi law touches severance in practice is unemployment: Miss. Code 71-5-11 counts employer payments made in lieu of regular wages as wages. For how other states handle severance and the full federal rules, see our severance pay laws by state guide.

Information last verified on October 8, 2026. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Mississippi law on severance pay: the absence of a state severance or layoff-notice law, and the unemployment provisions in Miss. Code 71-5-11 and 71-5-505. Federal rules appear only in short notes; the full federal layer is on our severance pay laws guide. For final-pay questions, see Mississippi final paycheck laws; for benefit amounts, see Mississippi unemployment benefits.

Is severance pay required in Mississippi?

No Mississippi statute we found requires it. We searched the full text of every section in the non-unemployment chapters of Title 71 (Labor and Industry) for severance, dismissal pay, separation pay, termination pay, plant closing and mass layoff, with no hits. A separate search of the unemployment chapter found no mention of severance, dismissal pay or separation pay.

We also scanned the titles of every bill in the Legislature's 2024, 2025 and 2026 regular sessions and found no severance or layoff-notice bill; the "severance" bills were oil and gas severance tax bills. This search has limits: it covered Title 71 only, using the 2025 code text on law.justia.com because the official code is not freely searchable. The U.S. Department of Labor says federal law does not require severance either.

No Mississippi WARN act

We found no Mississippi law requiring notice before a plant closing or mass layoff. The Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES) runs Rapid Response services for layoffs, and its layoff page points employers to "Information on Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification (WARN) and Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) requirements" under federal law.

Federal WARN requires 60 days' written notice from employers with 100 or more employees not counting part-time employees, or 100 or more employees who together work at least 4,000 hours a week not counting overtime, before a covered plant closing or mass layoff, and an employer that skips it owes back pay and benefits for up to 60 days (29 U.S.C. 2101-2102, 2104). Our severance pay laws guide explains who is covered.

Severance and Mississippi unemployment benefits

Mississippi's unemployment law has no rule written specifically for severance, and we found no MDES page or Mississippi court decision on it. Two provisions are the starting point:

• Wages include payments in lieu of wages. Miss. Code 71-5-11(R)(1): "Wages shall include payments from employers, from any source, and for any reason, that are in lieu of the employee's regular wages."
• Weekly wages above $40 reduce benefits. Under Miss. Code 71-5-505(1), a claimant's benefit for a week is the "weekly benefit amount less that part of his wages, if any, payable to him with respect to such week which is in excess of Forty Dollars ($40.00)."

Whether a particular lump sum or salary continuation is "payable with respect to" a given week is a question MDES decides on your claim, so report any severance when you file and answer its questions accurately. A separate provision, Miss. Code 71-5-513(A)(7), disqualifies a claimant for any week for which they receive "a back pay award, or other compensation allocable to any week, whether by settlement or otherwise." Whether MDES treats a particular severance payment as allocable to specific weeks is decided on your claim. The MDES unemployment FAQ discusses pension pay and weekly earnings over $40 but does not mention severance. Benefit amounts are on Mississippi unemployment benefits.

Unpaid promised severance in Mississippi

We found no Mississippi statute that defines promised severance as wages or gives a wage-claim remedy for it, and no statute in chapter 1 of Title 71 on when final pay is due. The pay-timing statute, Miss. Code 71-1-35, requires pay at least every two weeks or twice a month, and only from manufacturers employing 50 or more people and public service corporations.

That leaves the agreement itself. If the promise is part of an ongoing company severance plan, it can be an employee benefit plan under ERISA, the federal benefits law, which supersedes state laws that relate to covered plans (29 U.S.C. 1002(1), 1144(a)). The deadline to sue can be short. Under Miss. Code 15-1-29, an action based on an unwritten contract of employment must be filed within one year after the claim arises; most other contract claims, including written ones, have three years (Miss. Code 15-1-29 and 15-1-49). If your severance promise was oral or is not in a signed agreement, treat one year as the deadline and talk to a legal aid office or a lawyer licensed in Mississippi promptly. We did not find a Mississippi state agency that handles severance claims.

What a Mississippi severance agreement can ask you to give up

One Title 71 rule does limit a release: under Miss. Code 71-5-535, an agreement to waive or release your right to Mississippi unemployment benefits is void, and an employer may not require or accept such a waiver (a fine of $100 to $1,000, up to six months in jail, or both, per offense). We found no Mississippi statute in Title 71 limiting nondisclosure or non-disparagement terms in a separation agreement. A 2026 bill on nondisclosure agreements and sex abuse survivors (HB 1141, "Trey's Law") died in committee on February 3, 2026. We did not find any Mississippi rule on releasing unpaid-wage claims.

Non-compete terms in a severance agreement

We found no Mississippi statute on employee non-competes. The Mississippi Supreme Court enforces a non-compete, including one in a severance agreement, only if it is reasonable, mainly in how long it lasts and the area it covers, and the employer bears the burden of proving that (Kennedy v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 759 So. 2d 362 (Miss. 2000)).

Federal limits

If you are 40 or older, a release of federal age-discrimination claims must give you at least 21 days to consider it (45 in a group layoff) and 7 days to revoke it after signing (29 U.S.C. 626(f)). Our severance pay laws guide covers the other federal rules on releases and how to read an offer.

Recent changes

None found. Every 2024-2026 Mississippi bill we identified on unemployment benefits, settlement confidentiality or nondisclosure agreements died in committee, and none was about severance. We did not check bills prefiled for 2027.

Related

• Severance pay laws by state
• Mississippi unemployment benefits
• Mississippi final paycheck laws

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Mississippi severance pay law (Miss. Code 71-5-11, 71-5-505 and 71-1-35) and the federal laws that apply in Mississippi. It is not legal advice. The information was verified on October 8, 2026. For advice about your situation, contact the Mississippi Department of Employment Security about unemployment, a legal aid office, or a lawyer licensed in Mississippi.

Last updated: October 8, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is severance pay required by law in Mississippi?

No Mississippi statute we found requires it. A search of the labor chapters of Title 71 found no section on severance, so it is owed only when a contract, plan or policy promises it.

Does Mississippi have a state WARN Act?

We found none. MDES points employers to the federal WARN Act, which requires 60 days' notice from, generally, employers with 100 or more full-time employees (29 U.S.C. 2101-2102).

Does severance affect unemployment in Mississippi?

Mississippi has no statute written specifically for severance. Miss. Code 71-5-11 counts payments in lieu of regular wages as wages, and 71-5-505 reduces benefits by wages payable for a week above $40, so report severance to MDES when you file.

How long do I have to sign a severance agreement in Mississippi?

We found no Mississippi rule on review periods. If you are 40 or older, federal law requires at least 21 days to consider a release of age-discrimination claims (45 in a group layoff) and 7 days to revoke it (29 U.S.C. 626(f)).

How long do I have to sue for unpaid severance in Mississippi?

It can be as short as one year. Miss. Code 15-1-29 gives one year for an action based on an unwritten contract of employment, so if your severance promise was oral or otherwise unwritten, treat one year as the deadline. Most other contract claims, including written ones, have three years (Miss. Code 15-1-29 and 15-1-49). A lawyer licensed in Mississippi can say which period fits your claim.