20 Miss. Code R. § 101-600-603.00
The Law provides that the relationship of employer and employee shall be determined in accordance with the principles of the common law governing the relation of master and servant. Generally, the relationship exists when the person for whom services are performed has the right to control and direct the individual who performs the services, not only as to the result to be accomplished by the work but also as to the details and means by which the result is accomplished. That is, an employee is subject to the will and control of the employer not only as to what shall be done, but how it shall be done. In this connection, it is not necessary that the employer actually direct or control the manner in which the services are performed; it is sufficient if he or she has the right to do so. The right to discharge is also an important factor indicating that the person possessing that right is an employer Other factors characteristic of an employer are the furnishing of tools and the furnishing of a place to work to the individual who performs the service. In general, if an individual is subject to the control or direction of another merely as to the result to be accomplished by the work and not as to the means and methods for accomplishing the result, he or she is an independent contractor, not an employee.
If the relationship of employer and employees exists, the designation or description of the relationship by the parties as anything other than that of employer and employee is immaterial. Thus, if two (2) individuals in fact stand in relation of employer and employee to each other, it is of no consequence that the employee is designated as a partner, co-adventurer, agent, or independent contractor.
The measurement, method, or designation of compensation is also immaterial, if the relationship of employer and employee in fact exists.
Generally, physicians, lawyers, dentists, veterinarians, contractors, subcontractors, public stenographers, auctioneers, and others who follow an independent trade, business, or profession, in which they offer their services to the public, are independent contractors and not employees.
Whether or not persons performing services, directly or indirectly, for an employing unit are employees depends upon the particular facts in each case. No single test is conclusive and every employing unit claiming the existence of a relationship other than that of employer-employee shall make application to the Agency for determination of its status. They shall furnish to the Agency a full and complete statement of all facts concerning its relationship with the person claimed to be an independent contractor, together with a copy of the contract existing between them. All persons performing services for any employing unit shall be deemed employees unless and until this rule shall have been complied with and their status shall have been otherwise determined by the Agency after a decision has been made by the Agency relative to the employer-employee relationship, and the business has been notified by mail or electronically. The business has the right within ten (10) days from the transmittal date of this decision to protest the decision and request a hearing before the Agency, as provided in Section 71-5-355(2)(b)(ix) of the Law.
The words employ, "employer", and "employee", as used herein, are to be taken in their ordinary meaning. An employer, however, may be an individual, a corporation, partnership, a limited liability company, trust, estate, association, joint-stock company, insurance company, or corporation, or other recognized business organization, whether domestic or foreign, syndicate group, or entity. An employer may be a person acting in a fiduciary capacity or on behalf of another, such as a guardian, committee, trustee, executor or administrator, trustees in bankruptcy, receiver, assignee, for the benefit of creditors, or conservator.
An individual is in the employment or employ of another within the meaning of the Law if he performs a service, including service in interstate commerce, for such other, for wages or under any contract of hire, written or oral, expressed, or implied. The relationship between the individual who performs such service and the person for whom such service is rendered must be the legal relationship of employer and employee. The Law makes no distinction between classes or grades of employees. Thus, superintendents, managers, and other superior employees are employees within the meaning of the Law.
Whether the relationship of employer and employee exists, will in questionable cases be determined upon examination of the particular facts of each case.
20 Miss. Code. R. § 101-600-603.00