When the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission hires, fires, promotes, or demotes staff, does the chairman decide alone or does the full Commission act as a body?

Plain-English summary

Mississippi's Workers' Compensation Commission has three commissioners. One of them is the chairman, who serves as the Commission's "administrative head." Two of the three commissioners (Aldridge and Henry) asked the AG to clarify how Sections 71-3-85 and 71-3-93 of the Mississippi Code interact when the Commission deals with personnel matters.

This is a quietly important question of administrative governance. If the chairman has unilateral authority over personnel, the office becomes essentially monarchical for staffing. If the full Commission must act as a body, decisions take longer but are more deliberative.

The AG read the two statutes in pari materia (together, as parts of the same statutory scheme). The result:

• § 71-3-85(1) makes the chairman the "administrative head" with "final authority in all matters relating to assignment of cases for hearing and trial and the administrative work of the commission and its employees." That covers day-to-day management. But the same section excepts "the promulgation of rules and regulations wherein the commission shall act as a body, and in the trial and determination of cases as otherwise provided."

• § 71-3-93 says the Commission "shall establish and enforce fair and reasonable rules for the appointment, promotion and demotion of personnel" and "shall appoint such officers and employees as are necessary."

Reading the two together: rules for hiring, promoting, and demoting Commission staff are rule-making, which falls under the "Commission acts as a body" exception. So those decisions are not the chairman's alone. The chairman handles administration, but rule-making about personnel matters is full-Commission work.

The AG noted two limitations:

1. The statutes do not directly address firing. The AG suggested Aldridge and Henry consult the State Personnel Board (SPB) for guidance on terminations.
2. The Commission's rule-making authority does not override SPB authority. A 2000 AG opinion (Minor) held that SPB statutes supersede conflicting provisions of § 71-3-93. So the Commission cannot adopt personnel rules that conflict with SPB regulations.

What this means for you

If you're a Workers' Compensation Commissioner

You have rule-making authority over personnel matters as a body. The chairman cannot unilaterally adopt or change personnel rules. To change appointment, promotion, or demotion rules:

1. Place the proposed rule on a Commission agenda.
2. Notice the meeting per the open-meetings law (Mississippi has a tradition of careful adherence to OPMA for state commissions).
3. Vote as a Commission. A majority of the three-member Commission carries.
4. Document the rule in the Commission's regulations.

The chairman runs day-to-day administrative work, including case assignment and management of staff under existing rules. That is the chairman's domain.

For terminations specifically, the AG declined to opine. The pragmatic answer: terminations are a personnel action subject to State Personnel Board procedures. Coordinate with SPB.

If you're an employee of the Workers' Compensation Commission

The chairman manages your day-to-day work. But your employment status, classification, and the rules governing promotion/demotion come from the Commission as a body. If you have a grievance about a personnel rule, the right audience is the full Commission. If you have a grievance about a specific management action, the chairman is the appropriate first contact.

State Personnel Board procedures continue to apply. Read your SPB classification and any handbook provisions; those govern much of your day-to-day employment relationship.

If you're a state agency attorney advising a similarly-structured commission

Apply the same in pari materia framework. Look for the substantive rule-making/administrative-management split in the agency's enabling statute. A common pattern in Mississippi: a multi-member commission with a designated chairman; the chairman handles administration, the Commission as a body handles rules.

If you're State Personnel Board staff

This opinion confirms that SPB authority continues to apply to the Workers' Compensation Commission. The Commission can adopt its own rules in areas SPB has not addressed. But where SPB rules and Commission rules conflict, SPB controls.

If you're a Mississippi legislator

Some agencies have unclear authority structures because the enabling statute pre-dates SPB. The AG's in pari materia reading is workable but produces some friction (no one quite owns terminations, for example). Cleaner statutory drafting would clarify each authority area: chairman vs. body vs. SPB.

Common questions

Q: What does "in pari materia" mean?
A: Latin for "on the same subject." Statutes addressing the same subject matter are read together as if they were one law, harmonizing apparent conflicts where possible.

Q: What's the difference between administrative and rule-making authority?
A: Administrative authority is execution: managing staff, scheduling, assigning cases, day-to-day decisions. Rule-making authority is creating the rules under which the agency operates. The chairman has administrative authority; the Commission as a body has rule-making authority.

Q: Who can fire a Workers' Compensation Commission employee?
A: The opinion explicitly does not answer. The AG suggested contacting the State Personnel Board. SPB has its own procedures for state-employee terminations, which generally apply to Commission employees.

Q: Can the chairman hire someone unilaterally?
A: Section 71-3-93 says "the commission shall appoint" officers and employees. That language reads naturally as Commission-as-a-body action, not chairman alone. A chairman who hires unilaterally is exposed to challenge.

Q: Can the Commission adopt rules conflicting with SPB regulations?
A: No. MS AG Op., Minor (Apr. 7, 2000) held that "the State Personnel Board statutes supersede the conflicting provisions of Section 71-3-93." The Commission "may not establish and enforce its own rules and procedures that would conflict with State Personnel Board regulations."

Q: How big is the Commission staff?
A: Section 71-3-93 lets the Commission appoint up to eight administrative judges (with Governor consent), plus an executive director, secretary, statistician, court reporters, rehabilitation unit staff, and other essential employees. Practical size varies by year.

Background and statutory framework

The Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission administers the state's workers' comp system. It hears injury claims, makes administrative determinations, and oversees compliance. Its authority comes from Title 71, Chapter 3 of the Mississippi Code.

Two sections handle commission governance:

• § 71-3-85 ("Powers and duties of chairman"): Defines the chairman as "administrative head" with final authority on case assignment and administrative work, except in (a) rule-making (where the Commission acts as a body) and (b) case trial and determination (which has separate procedures).

• § 71-3-93 ("Personnel and salaries"): Defines who the Commission may appoint, sets some salaries, and gives the Commission rule-making authority for "the appointment, promotion and demotion of personnel."

The implicit conflict: § 71-3-85 says the chairman has final authority on "administrative work . . . of its employees." § 71-3-93 puts personnel rule-making with the Commission as a body. The AG's reading harmonizes these by treating personnel rule-making as a sub-category of rule-making (which the Commission does as a body) and treating personnel administrative work (managing existing staff under existing rules) as the chairman's.

Layered on top is the State Personnel Board's general authority over state employee classifications and terminations. SPB law, where it conflicts with § 71-3-93, supersedes.

The result is a three-layer structure:

1. State Personnel Board: general state-employee classification, compensation rules, termination procedures.
2. Workers' Comp Commission as a body: Commission-specific personnel rule-making on appointment, promotion, demotion (within SPB framework).
3. Chairman: day-to-day administrative management of staff under those rules.

Citations and references

Statutes:
- Miss. Code Ann. § 7-5-25 (AG opinion authority)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-85 (Chairman's authority)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-85(1)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-93 (Commission personnel authority)

Case:
- Jones Cnty. Sch. Dist. v. Covington Cnty. Sch. Dist., 352 So. 3d 1123, 1130 (Miss. 2022), starting point for statutory interpretation is statute's language

Prior AG opinions referenced:
- MS AG Op., Watson (Sept. 26, 2022), defining "administrative" via Black's Law Dictionary
- MS AG Op., Minor (Apr. 7, 2000), SPB statutes supersede conflicting § 71-3-93 provisions

Source

• Landing page: https://attorneygenerallynnfitch.com/divisions/opinions-and-policy/recent-opinions/
• Original PDF: https://attorneygenerallynnfitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/B.Aldridge-M.Henry-May-9-2023-Mississippi-Workers-Compensation-Commission-Authority.pdf

Original opinion text

May 9, 2023

Beth Harkins Aldridge, Commissioner
Mark Henry, Commissioner
Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission
Post Office Box 5300
Jackson, Mississippi 39296-5300

Re: Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission Authority

Dear Commissioner Aldridge and Commissioner Henry:

The Office of the Attorney General has received your request for an official opinion.

Background

In your request, you recite both Mississippi Code Annotated Section 71-3-85, which sets forth, among other things, the duties of the chairman of the Workers' Compensation Commission ("Commission") and Section 71-3-93, which sets forth the duties of the Commission relating to personnel matters. You ask this office for clarification of the two statutes and how they "interact with one another when concerning personnel matters."

Questions Presented

1. What is the scope of the authority, responsibilities, and duties of the chairman of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission?

2. In personnel matters that require hiring, firing, promoting, or demoting an employee, should the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission act as a body as outlined in Mississippi Code Annotated Section 71-3-93?

Brief Response

1. While this office is only authorized to opine on prospective questions of law pertaining to the authority, duties, and responsibilities of the requestor, in this instance, to thoroughly answer your questions, the rules of statutory interpretation require this office to address Section 71-3-85, which recites the administrative duties of the chairman in context of the Commission's responsibilities as a body. As relevant to your inquiry here, the chairman of the Commission acts as its administrative head.

2. Reading Sections 71-3-93 and 71-3-85 in pari materia, the Commission must act as a body in establishing and enforcing rules for the appointment, promotion, and demotion of personnel. The statutes do not speak to the authority to fire personnel.

Applicable Law and Discussion

Section 7-5-25 authorizes the Attorney General to issue official opinions to various public officials and bodies "upon any question of law relating to their respective offices." However, even though your first question regards the authority, responsibilities, and duties of the chairman, because you ask about the duties of the Commission as a whole, and the chairman is one of the three commissioners, the chairman's duties are intertwined with the Commission's. This office would not be able to thoroughly clarify the statutes and answer your question about the interplay between them without addressing Section 71-3-85, which recites the chairman's administrative duties and establishes the Commission's rulemaking authority.

Section 71-3-85(1) provides, in part:

The chairman shall be the administrative head of the commission and shall have the final authority in all matters relating to assignment of cases for hearing and trial and the administrative work of the commission and its employees, except in the promulgation of rules and regulations wherein the commission shall act as a body, and in the trial and determination of cases as otherwise provided.

According to the rules of statutory construction, "[t]he starting point for interpreting a statute is the language of the statute itself." Jones Cnty. Sch. Dist. v. Covington Cnty. Sch. Dist., 352 So. 3d 1123, 1130 (Miss. 2022) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). While Section 71-3-85(1) states that the chairman is the "administrative head of the commission," having final authority in all matters relating to the administrative work of the Commission and its employees, nowhere in the Workers Compensation Law is the word "administrative" defined. As this office opined in MS AG Op., Watson at *2 (Sept. 26, 2022), "administrative" is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as "'relating to, or involving the work of managing a company or organization; executive.' Administrative, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed., 2019)." "Administrative" as defined by Merriam-Webster means "relating to the management of a company, school, or other organization." https://www.merriam-webster.com/administrative (last visited May 1, 2023). Therefore, according to the plain and ordinary meaning of the word administrative, the chairman of the Commission has final authority over the management of the work of the Commission and its employees, "except in the promulgation of rules and regulations wherein the commission shall act as a body. . . ." Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-85(1) (emphasis added).

You also ask about Section 71-3-93, which further explains the Commission's rulemaking authority as it relates to personnel matters:

The commission shall appoint such officers and employees as are necessary adequately to administer the Workers' Compensation Law, including not more than eight (8) administrative judges to be appointed by the commission with the consent of the Governor and an executive director who shall serve at the will of the commission and shall have such administrative duties as are assigned by the commission, a secretary, a statistician, a rehabilitation unit, and any other employees deemed essential to the administration of the law including court reporters. . . .

....

All salaries not specifically fixed by law shall be set by the commission. . . [and] [t]he commission shall establish and enforce fair and reasonable rules for the appointment, promotion and demotion of personnel.

While Section 71-3-85 establishes the rulemaking authority of the Commission, Section 71-3-93 expounds on that authority. Section 71-3-93 states that the Commission shall appoint officers and employees and set salaries not already specified by statute, and it also grants the Commission the power to both establish and enforce rules for appointing personnel, promoting personnel, and demoting personnel. This authority does not lie with a single Commission member but with the Commission as a whole. The statutes do not speak to the authority to fire personnel.

Please note that although the statutes bestow rulemaking and enforcement authority on the Commission as a whole, the Commission is still subject to the authority of the State Personnel Board ("SPB"). See MS AG Op., Minor at *2 (Apr. 7, 2000) (opining that "the State Personnel Board statutes supersede the conflicting provisions of Section 71-3-93," and the Commission "may not establish and enforce its own rules and procedures that would conflict with State Personnel Board regulations. . . ."). As to the Commission's authority to fire personnel, we recommend you contact the SPB for guidance.

Accordingly, it is the opinion of this office that Section 71-3-85(1) and Section 71-3-93, when read in pari materia, require the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission to act as a body "in the promulgation of rules and regulations," which includes the establishment and enforcement of "rules for the appointment, promotion and demotion of personnel." (Emphasis added). The chairman "shall have the final authority in all matters relating to . . . the administrative work of the commission and its employees" but does not have sole rulemaking authority in personnel matters involving appointing, promoting, or demoting employees. Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-85(1).

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/ Abigail C. Overby
Abigail C. Overby
Special Assistant Attorney General