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Women are
112%
more likely to
live in poverty
than white men in
Mississippi
Single-woman led households are at the
highest risk
of poverty in
Mississippi
In
Mississippi
, women earn
$0.67
for every dollar a white man makes
Women in
Mississippi
are
94%
more likely to earn
minimum wage
than white men
Women in
Mississippi
are
96%
more likely to earn a
tipped wage
than white men
In
Mississippi
, at least
73%
of women are essential to the financial security of their household
While Mississippi law requires equal pay on the basis of sex for full-time jobs that require equal skill, education, effort, and responsibility that are done under similar working conditions, the law’s protections are weaker and more regressive than federal law.[1]
a. Affirmative Defenses: To justify a pay disparity, an employer can assert that it was based on: seniority system; merit system; a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; and any factor other than sex, including salary history, where there was competition to hire an employee, and the extent to which the employee attempted to negotiate.[2] These factors actually contribute to the wage gap and codifying them into law makes it harder for women to litigate for pay equity.
b. Retaliation: Mississippi law does not specifically protect workers who file an equal pay complaint from retaliation by their employer and workers who bring a claim under the state law, waive their rights under federal law and thus lost anti-retaliation protections under Title VII.
[1] Miss. Code. Ann. § 71-17-5.
[2] Id.
No. Mississippi’s law provides weaker protections and authorizes discriminatory practices as it broadly defines the employer affirmative defense of “any factor other than sex” to include salary history.[1] Reliance on salary history is known to contribute to the wage gap. Under the law, individuals who file a state claim waive their rights to bring federal claims, which provide broader protections.
[1] Id.
No. Mississippi does not mandate any form of employer pay disclosure.
No. Mississippi’s equal pay law authorizes employers to rely on salary history to justify a pay differential, a practice known to perpetuate gender-based pay discrimination.
No. Mississippi law does not include protection for workers who seek to discuss pay. However, under federal law private sector employers generally cannot prohibit employees from discussing wages, with some exceptions such as supervisors.[1]
[1] Your Right to Discuss Wages, Nat’l Lab. Rels. Bd., https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/your-rights/your-rights-to-discuss-wages (last visited Jan. 28, 2022); see 29 U.S.C.§§ 157-158.
No. Mississippi does not require employers to collect, report, or assess gender-based pay data.
No. Mississippi does not have a minimum wage, so the federal minimum wage governs which is $7.25/hr.[1] Additionally, Mississippi prohibits its cities and counties from establishing local minimum wages that exceeds the federal minimum wage.[2]
[1] State Minimum Wage Laws, U.S. Dep’t of Lab. (Jan. 1, 2022), https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/state#ms.
[2] Miss. Code Ann. § 17-1-51 (2018).
No. The state has not enacted protections to eliminate the tipped and other subminimum wages that apply in certain industries or to certain workers. In accordance with federal law, tipped employees who earn at least $30 in tips per month are permitted to be paid $2.13/hr.[1]
[1] Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees, U.S. Dep’t of Lab. (Sept. 30, 2023), https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped.
No. There is no general requirement, however, manufacturing businesses with 50 or more employees and public service corporations are required to pay workers at least semi-monthly.[1]
[1] Miss. Code § 71-1-35 (2018).
No. Mississippi does not require employers to give workers a written notice of their pay.
No. Mississippi does not have a state overtime law, so federal law governs. Covered nonexempt employees must receive overtime pay for any time worked beyond 40 hours in a workweek (any fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours—seven consecutive 24-hour periods) at a rate no less than time and a half at the regular rate of pay.[1]
[1] 29 U.S.C. § 207 (2020).
No. Federal protections may apply.
