Can a Mississippi county board force other elected officials to use a county time-clock or computer-login payroll system?

Plain-English summary

Tate County's Board of Supervisors wanted to roll out a new payroll software system that required time-clock or computer-login entries from all county employees. Some elected officials wanted to keep using paper time sheets. The Board's question to the AG was whether it could force the elected officials to use the new digital system, possibly by requiring them to manually upload their employees' paper time-sheet hours into the software.

The AG said no. Mississippi follows a long-standing rule: each county elected official who has authority to employ their own staff also has authority to adopt their own personnel administration system, or to opt into the Board's system. The choice belongs to the elected official. Once the elected official has adopted and filed with the Board their own system, the Board cannot impose a different system on them.

The opinion drew on two prior opinions, MS AG Op., McWilliams (January 20, 2012) and MS AG Op., Abraham (April 18, 2012). McWilliams established that "payroll documentation," including time-clock systems, is part of "personnel administration" that elected officials can govern themselves. Abraham reaffirmed and applied the rule. The AG affirmed both in the Lamar opinion.

Practical result for Tate County: elected officials who use paper time sheets file their personnel administration system with the Board, then turn the paper time sheets over to the county payroll clerk. The clerk enters the hours into whatever software the Board uses for its end of the payroll process. The elected official does not have to use the time-clock or computer-login features.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2020. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Background and statutory framework

Mississippi counties operate with a structural division of authority. The Board of Supervisors handles county fiscal and general administration matters. Other county elected officials have their own statutory authorities for their offices' operations, including, as the opinion puts it, being "authorized by law to employ their own employees."

This division creates a recurring tension. The Board controls the county purse strings and may want uniform payroll rules across the county. The other elected officials want autonomy over how they staff and operate their offices. Mississippi's long-standing AG opinions resolve the tension on the side of elected-official autonomy for personnel administration.

The McWilliams opinion (January 2012) addressed the question first in the time-clock context. McWilliams held that "payroll documentation," including time-clock systems, falls within "personnel administration" and cannot be imposed by the Board on other elected officials. The Abraham opinion (April 2012) reaffirmed McWilliams. The Lamar opinion is the third in the line, this time in the context of a software-based time-tracking system.

The mechanism by which an elected official preserves autonomy is filing. The official adopts their own personnel administration system and files it with the Board. The filing is the act that locks in the autonomy. An elected official who never files anything is presumably subject to the Board's countywide system by default. Once filed, the official's system controls within their office.

The opinion's instruction on payroll-clerk processing keeps the central function intact. The Board still operates the payroll function for the county as a whole. Even an elected official with a paper-time-sheet system delivers the time sheets to the payroll clerk, who enters them into the software the Board uses for its personnel administration. The Board cannot force the elected official to use time clocks or computer logins to capture the hours; it runs the centralized payroll process based on whatever documentation the elected official provides.

Common questions

Q: Can the Board force other elected officials to use a time clock or computer login?
A: No. The AG affirmed its earlier McWilliams and Abraham opinions: a countywide "payroll documentation" system, including a time clock, falls within personnel administration, and the Board cannot mandate it for the employees of other elected officials who have filed their own system.

Q: How does an elected official keep control over their office's payroll documentation?
A: By adopting their own system of personnel administration and filing it with the Board. The opinion says officials authorized by law to employ their own staff may adopt their own system or adopt the Board's; if they adopt their own, it "must be filed with the board of supervisors."

Q: If an official keeps paper time sheets, how does payroll still get processed?
A: The opinion says the official should turn the employee time sheets over to the county payroll clerk, who enters them into the software the Board uses for its personnel administration. The Board runs the central payroll; it just cannot dictate how each office captures the hours.

Q: What if the elected officials choose to use the Board's system?
A: Then the Board's system applies. Under McWilliams, an official may choose to adopt the system the Board adopted; the autonomy is the official's to invoke or waive.

Citations and references

Prior AG opinions:

• MS AG Op., McWilliams (January 20, 2012)
• MS AG Op., Abraham (April 18, 2012)

Source

• Landing page: https://attorneygenerallynnfitch.com/divisions/opinions-and-policy/recent-opinions/
• Original PDF: https://attorneygenerallynnfitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/J.LamarJr_June-26-2020-County-Payroll-System.pdf

Original opinion text

June 26, 2020

John T. Lamar, Jr., Esq.
Attorney for the Tate County Board of Supervisors
910 E.F. Hale Drive
Senatobia, Mississippi 38668

Re: County Payroll System

Dear Mr. Lamar:

The Office of the Attorney General is in receipt of your request for the issuance of an official opinion.

Question Presented

If a county elected official decides not to use a time clock or computer login, but would rather continue to use paper time sheets, can the board of supervisors require the elected officials to manually upload their employees' time from their time sheets to the payroll software for the payroll clerk to process and make payment?

Brief Response

The Board of Supervisors is not authorized to implement a new payroll system as part of its personnel administration and require other county elected officials to manually enter their employees' time sheets into this system if the elected official has chosen to, and filed with the board, his/her own system of personnel administration, i.e., paper time sheets.

Applicable Law and Discussion

This office has previously opined that a board of supervisors has no authority to require county employees in the other elected county officials' offices to use a time clock system for its payroll administration. MS AG Op., Abraham (April 18, 2012)(citing MS AG Op., McWilliams (January 20, 2012)).

As stated in the McWilliams opinion, elected officials of counties operating on a countywide system who are authorized by law to employ their own employees are authorized to adopt their own system of personnel administration, or they can choose to adopt the system adopted by the board of supervisors. If they adopt their own system, it must be filed with the board of supervisors.

A countywide system of "payroll documentation," such as that proposed in your letter, including use of a time clock, falls within the purview of personnel administration and, thus, cannot be mandated by the board to be used by employees of all elected officials.

We hereby affirm our opinions in McWilliams and Abraham. It is, therefore, the opinion of this office that the board of supervisors is not authorized to implement and require elected officials to use a countywide system of payroll documentation, which may or may not include a time clock or other software if that elected official has chosen to, and filed with the board, his/her own system of personnel administration. Thus, the elected officials of Tate County may continue to use paper time sheets to document their respective employees' work hours as part of their own personnel systems and should turn employee time sheets over to the county payroll clerk for entry into the software system that the Tate County Board of Supervisors has chosen to utilize for its personnel administration.

If this office may be of any further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

LYNN FITCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL

By: /s/ Kim P. Turner
Kim P. Turner
Assistant Attorney General