Employment Contract - At-Will - Mississippi

MISSISSIPPI AT-WILL EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

This At-Will Employment Agreement (the “Agreement”) is entered into as of [__/__/____] by and between:

• Employer: [EMPLOYER LEGAL NAME], a [STATE AND ENTITY TYPE], with an address at [ADDRESS] (“Employer”); and
• Employee: [EMPLOYEE FULL LEGAL NAME], with an address at [ADDRESS] (“Employee”).

1. Position and Start Date

Employer employs Employee as [JOB TITLE], reporting to [SUPERVISOR OR ROLE], beginning [__/__/____].

Employee's primary work location is [LOCATION / REMOTE ARRANGEMENT]. Employee shall perform the duties in Exhibit A and other lawful, reasonable duties assigned by Employer.

Employment status:

• ☐ Full-time
• ☐ Part-time
• ☐ Exempt classification — attorney review completed
• ☐ Nonexempt classification — timekeeping and overtime procedures provided

2. At-Will Relationship

Employment is at will. Either Employer or Employee may end the employment relationship at any time, with or without advance notice and with or without a stated reason, except that neither party may act for a reason prohibited by applicable law.

This Agreement does not promise employment for a fixed term. A performance plan, disciplinary guideline, handbook, policy, job description, or statement by a supervisor does not change the at-will relationship unless a written amendment expressly changing that relationship is signed by Employee and [AUTHORIZED EMPLOYER OFFICER].

The Mississippi Court of Appeals describes the general rule and the narrow criminal-act public-policy exceptions in Estate of Turner v. Town Pharmacy & Gifts, LLC, No. 2019-CA-01614-COA, paragraphs 18-19 (Jan. 19, 2021). This Agreement does not waive any right or protection that cannot lawfully be waived.

3. Compensation and Payroll

Employer shall pay Employee:

• ☐ Salary of $[AMOUNT] per [YEAR / MONTH / PAY PERIOD]
• ☐ Hourly rate of $[AMOUNT] per hour
• ☐ Other reviewed compensation formula: [DESCRIBE]

Paydays are [PAYDAY SCHEDULE], subject to required deductions and withholdings.

3.1 Mississippi Pay-Frequency Coverage Check

Miss. Code Ann. § 71-1-35 is not a general rule for every private employer. Complete the applicable review:

• Employer is engaged in manufacturing in Mississippi, employs at least fifty employees, and employs public labor: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Employer is a public-service corporation doing business in Mississippi: ☐ Yes ☐ No

If either answer is Yes, payroll counsel shall confirm that the pay schedule satisfies § 71-1-35, including its covered-employee definition and timing requirements.

3.2 Mississippi Equal Pay Coverage Check

The Mississippi Equal Pay for Equal Work Act uses limited state-law definitions. Complete the review without treating it as the only applicable pay law:

• Employer employs five or more employees: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Employee is employed to work forty or more hours per week: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Compensation review under Miss. Code Ann. §§ 71-17-3 and 71-17-5 completed: ☐ Yes ☐ No

Nothing in this section narrows any protection or obligation under other applicable law.

3.3 Incentive Compensation

• ☐ No bonus or commission plan applies.
• ☐ The separate written plan identified as [PLAN NAME AND DATE] applies according to its terms.

No oral statement changes a written incentive plan.

4. Benefits, Leave, and Expenses

Employee may participate in benefit and leave plans for which Employee is eligible, subject to the controlling plan documents and policies as amended from time to time.

PTO or leave terms: [IDENTIFY POLICY / INSERT TERMS].

The treatment of unused PTO at separation shall be determined by the controlling written policy, plan, agreement, and applicable law. This Agreement does not independently promise a PTO payout.

Employer shall reimburse authorized, documented business expenses under [EXPENSE POLICY].

5. Duties, Policies, and Conflicts

Employee shall:

1. perform assigned duties honestly and with reasonable care;
2. comply with lawful workplace policies and instructions;
3. accurately record time when required;
4. protect Employer property and access credentials; and
5. disclose an actual conflict of interest through [REPORTING CHANNEL].

Employee acknowledges receipt of the following policies, which do not create a fixed term of employment:

• ☐ Employee handbook dated [DATE]
• ☐ Information-security policy dated [DATE]
• ☐ Anti-harassment and complaint procedure dated [DATE]
• ☐ Timekeeping and payroll procedure dated [DATE]
• ☐ Other: [IDENTIFY]

6. Confidential Information

During and after employment, Employee shall not use or disclose Employer's nonpublic confidential information except to perform assigned duties or as authorized in writing.

Confidential information does not include information that Employee can document was lawfully known without a duty of confidence, became public without Employee's breach, was received lawfully from another source, or was independently developed without use of Employer's confidential information.

This section does not prohibit a disclosure, report, cooperation, communication, or other activity protected by applicable law. It does not require Employee to notify Employer before communicating with a government agency when the law protects that communication.

7. Work Product and Preexisting Materials

Employee assigns to Employer work product created within Employee's assigned duties for Employer, subject to rights that cannot lawfully be assigned.

Employee's preexisting materials are listed below or in Exhibit B:

[LIST PREEXISTING MATERIALS OR WRITE “NONE”]

Employer receives no ownership of listed preexisting materials except under a separate written license signed by both parties.

8. Employer Property and Records

On request or separation, Employee shall return Employer property, records, keys, devices, and access credentials. Employee shall not delete or alter Employer records except under an authorized records-management procedure.

Employer shall provide final payroll and benefits information through [CONTACT / PROCESS]. Miss. Code Ann. § 71-1-35 does not supply the former draft's claimed universal termination-day or fifteen-day final-pay rule; the responsible reviewer must identify the payroll, plan, contract, and other law that actually governs the separation.

9. Terms Not Included

This Agreement does not include any of the following:

• employee indemnification of Employer;
• a cap on Employer liability;
• prevailing-party attorney-fee shifting;
• mandatory arbitration;
• jury-trial waiver;
• noncompetition or nonsolicitation restrictions;
• a promise of severance or payment for “good reason”; or
• automatic judicial reformation or blue-penciling.

Any such term must appear, if used at all, in a separately identified and signed addendum prepared after Mississippi-specific legal review. No addendum may change the at-will relationship unless it expressly says so and satisfies Section 2.

10. Separation

Either party may communicate separation in writing to [CONTACT / ADDRESS / EMAIL]. Advance notice is requested as a workplace courtesy but is not a contractual condition of at-will separation unless a separately signed agreement expressly provides otherwise.

At separation, Employer shall determine amounts due under the applicable payroll records, written compensation plans, benefit documents, policies, this Agreement, and governing law.

11. General Terms

11.1 Governing Law

Mississippi law governs this Agreement to the extent it may lawfully do so. This Agreement does not select an exclusive court or county; jurisdiction and venue remain governed by applicable law.

11.2 Entire Agreement

This Agreement and its signed exhibits are the entire agreement concerning the subjects they address. Controlling benefit-plan documents and separately signed compensation plans remain governed by their own terms.

11.3 Amendments

An amendment must be in writing and signed by Employee and [AUTHORIZED EMPLOYER OFFICER]. Section 2 controls any proposed change to at-will status.

11.4 Assignment

Employee may not assign personal duties under this Agreement. Employer may assign this Agreement to a successor that assumes Employer's obligations in writing.

11.5 Severability

If a court declines to enforce a provision, the remaining provisions continue only to the extent they can operate without the unenforceable provision. This section does not authorize automatic rewriting of a restriction or waiver.

11.6 No Waiver

A waiver must be in writing. A waiver on one occasion does not waive a later breach.

12. Acknowledgments and Signatures

Each party acknowledges that the party has read this Agreement, had an opportunity to ask questions and consult counsel, and signs voluntarily.

Exhibit A — Position Description

Title: [TITLE]

Reports to: [SUPERVISOR]

Essential duties:

1. [DUTY]
2. [DUTY]
3. [DUTY]

Exhibit B — Preexisting Materials

[LIST OR WRITE “NONE”]

Sources and References

• Mississippi Legislature, H.B. 1307 (2025 Reg. Sess.), introduced text reproducing Miss. Code Ann. § 71-1-35; official history shows the bill died on calendar without changing the section — https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2025/pdf/HB/1300-1399/HB1307IN.pdf — history: https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2025/pdf/history/HB/HB1307.xml
• Mississippi Legislature, H.B. 770 (2022 Reg. Sess.), as sent to Governor, enacting the Mississippi Equal Pay for Equal Work Act effective July 1, 2022 — https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2022/pdf/HB/0700-0799/HB0770SG.pdf
• Mississippi Court of Appeals, Estate of Turner v. Town Pharmacy & Gifts, LLC, No. 2019-CA-01614-COA (Jan. 19, 2021), paragraphs 18-19 — https://courts.ms.gov/images/Opinions/CO150927.pdf