State employees; authorize to use major medical leave for their mental health care or treatment.

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To: Accountability,
Efficiency, Transparency
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Representative Yancey

HOUSE BILL NO. 537

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 25-3-95, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO 1
AUTHORIZE STATE EMPLOYEES TO USE MAJOR MEDICAL LEAVE FOR THEIR 2
MENTAL HEALTH CARE OR TREATMENT WITH A PSYCHIATRIST, PSYCHOLOGIST 3
OR LICENSED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR, SUBJECT TO THE SAME PROVISIONS 4
THAT APPLY TO THE USE OF MAJOR MEDICAL LEAVE AND PERSONAL LEAVE 5
FOR THE ILLNESS OF EMPLOYEES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 6
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 7
SECTION 1. Section 25-3-95, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 8
amended as follows: 9
25-3-95. (1) All employees and appointed officers of the 10
State of Mississippi, except employees of the public universities 11
who do not contribute to the Mississippi Public Employees' 12
Retirement System or the State Institutions of Higher Learning 13
Optional Retirement Program, shall accrue credits for major 14
medical leave as follows: 15
Continuous Accrual Rate Accrual Rate 16
Service (Monthly) (Annually) 17
1 month to 3 years 8 hours per month 12 days per year 18
37 months to 8 years 7 hours per month 10.5 days per year 19
97 months to 15 years 6 hours per month 9 days per year 20
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Over 15 years 5 hours per month 7.5 days per year 21
Faculty members employed by the eight (8) public universities 22
on a nine-month contract shall accrue credit for major medical 23
leave as follows: 24
Continuous Accrual Rate Accrual Rate 25
Service (Per Month) (Per Academic Year) 26
1 month to 3 years 13-1/3 hours per month 15 days per 27
academic year 28
37 months to 8 years 14-1/5 hours per month 16 days per 29
academic year 30
97 months to 15 years 15-2/5 hours per month 17 days per 31
academic year 32
Over 15 years 16 hours per month 18 days per 33
academic year 34
Part-time employees shall accrue major medical leave on a pro 35
rata basis. There shall be no maximum limit to major medical 36
leave accumulation. All unused major medical leave shall be 37
counted as creditable service for the purposes of the retirement 38
system as provided in Sections 25-11-103 and 25-13-5. 39
(2) (a) Major medical leave may be used for the illness or 40
injury of an employee or member of the employee's immediate family 41
as defined in subsection (3) of this section, only after the 42
employee has used one (1) day of accrued personal or compensatory 43
leave for each absence due to illness, or leave without pay if the 44
employee has no accrued personal or compensatory leave; provided 45
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that faculty members employed by the eight (8) public universities 46
on a nine-month basis may use major medical leave for the first 47
day of absence due to illness. However, major medical leave may 48
be used, without prior use of personal leave, to cover regularly 49
scheduled visits to a doctor's office or a hospital for the 50
continuing treatment of a chronic disease, as certified in advance 51
by a physician. For the purposes of this section, "physician" 52
means a doctor of medicine, osteopathy, dental medicine, podiatry 53
or chiropractic. For each absence due to illness of thirty-two 54
(32) consecutive working hours (combined personal leave and major 55
medical leave), major medical leave shall be authorized only when 56
certified by their attending physician. Major medical leave also 57
may be used by an employee for his or her mental health care or 58
treatment with a psychiatrist, psychologist or licensed 59
professional counselor, subject to the same provisions in this 60
paragraph (a) and in Section 25-3-93(4) that apply to the use of 61
major medical leave and personal leave for the illness of the 62
employee. 63
(b) When an employee's absence is due to a work-related 64
injury for which the employee is receiving temporary disability 65
benefits under Section 71-3-17(b) or 71-3-21, the injured employee 66
shall not use accrued personal and/or medical leave and receive 67
workers' compensation benefits simultaneously if the combined 68
receipt of both benefits results in the employee being paid, while 69
absent due to the work-related injury, a total amount that exceeds 70
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one hundred percent (100%) of his wages earned in state employment 71
at the time of injury. In such cases, the injured employee may 72
use only as much of his accrued personal and/or medical leave as 73
necessary, which may be fewer than eight (8) hours of accrued 74
personal and/or major medical leave in a day, to constitute the 75
difference between the amount of temporary disability workers' 76
compensation benefits received and one hundred percent (100%) of 77
his wages earned at the time of injury in state employment. It is 78
the intent of the Legislature that no state employee who is absent 79
and disabled from work due to a work-related injury shall receive 80
more than one hundred percent (100%) of his wages earned in state 81
employment at the time of injury through the use of accrued 82
personal and/or medical leave combined with temporary disability 83
benefits under the Workers' Compensation Law. The procedure for 84
implementing this paragraph (b) shall be as directed by the 85
applicable appointing authority. The receipt or payment of 86
benefits in compliance with this paragraph (b) shall be considered 87
the employee's exclusive remedy against the employer in accordance 88
with Section 71-3-9. 89
(3) An employee may use up to three (3) days of earned major 90
medical leave for each occurrence of death in the immediate family 91
requiring the employee's absence from work. No qualifying time or 92
use of personal leave will be required prior to use of major 93
medical leave for this purpose. For the purpose of this 94
subsection (3), the immediate family is defined as spouse, parent, 95
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stepparent, sibling, child, stepchild, grandchild, grandparent, 96
son- or daughter-in-law, mother- or father-in-law or brother- or 97
sister-in-law. Child means a biological, adopted or foster child, 98
or a child for whom the individual stands or stood in loco 99
parentis. 100
(4) Employees and appointed officers of the State of 101
Mississippi having unused, accumulated sick leave or annual leave 102
earned prior to July 1, 1984, shall be credited with major medical 103
leave and personal leave as follows: All unused annual leave 104
shall be credited as personal leave. 105
Unused sick leave shall be divided between major medical 106
leave and personal leave at rates determined by the employee's 107
sick leave balance on June 30, 1984. The rates of conversion 108
shall be as follows: 109
Sick Leave Percentage Percentage 110
Balance as of Converted to Converted to 111
June 30, 1984 Personal Leave Major Medical Leave 112
1 - 200 hours 20% 80% 113
201 - 400 hours 25% 75% 114
401 - 600 hours 30% 70% 115
601 or more hours 35% 65% 116
(5) Upon retirement from active employment, each faculty 117
member of the state-supported public universities who is employed 118
on a nine-month basis shall receive credit and be paid for not 119
more than thirty (30) days of unused major medical leave for 120
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service as a state employee. Unused major medical leave in excess 121
of thirty (30) days shall be counted as creditable service for the 122
purposes of the retirement system as provided in Sections 123
25-11-103 and 25-13-5. 124
(6) Any state law enforcement officer who is injured by 125
wound or accident in the line of duty shall not be required to use 126
earned major medical leave during the period of recovery from such 127
injury. As used in this subsection, the term "state law 128
enforcement officer" means a person employed by a state agency 129
who, as a condition of his or her employment, is required by law 130
to complete a course of study at the Law Enforcement Officers 131
Training Academy. 132
(7) For the purpose of Sections 25-3-91 through 25-3-99, the 133
earned major medical leave of each employee shall be credited 134
monthly after the completion of each calendar month, and the 135
appointing authority shall not increase the amount of major 136
medical leave to an employee's credit. It shall be unlawful for 137
an appointing authority to grant major medical leave in an amount 138
greater than was earned and accumulated by the officer or 139
employee. 140
(8) Any employee may donate a portion of his or her earned 141
personal leave or major medical leave to another employee who is 142
suffering from a catastrophic injury or illness, as defined in 143
Section 25-3-91, or to another employee who has a member of his or 144
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her immediate family who is suffering from a catastrophic injury 145
or illness, in accordance with the following: 146
(a) The employee donating the leave (the "donor 147
employee") shall designate the employee who is to receive the 148
leave (the "recipient employee") and the amount of earned personal 149
leave and major medical leave that is to be donated, and shall 150
notify the donor employee's appointing authority or supervisor of 151
his or her designation. The donor employee's appointing authority 152
or supervisor then shall notify the recipient employee's 153
appointing authority or supervisor of the amount of leave that has 154
been donated by the donor employee to the recipient employee. 155
(b) The maximum amount of earned personal leave that an 156
employee may donate to any other employee may not exceed a number 157
of days that would leave the donor employee with fewer than seven 158
(7) days of personal leave left, and the maximum amount of earned 159
major medical leave that an employee may donate to any other 160
employee may not exceed fifty percent (50%) of the earned major 161
medical leave of the donor employee. All donated leave shall be 162
in increments of not less than twenty-four (24) hours. 163
(c) An employee must have exhausted all of his or her 164
earned personal leave and major medical leave before he or she 165
will be eligible to receive any leave donated by another employee. 166
(d) Before an employee may receive donated leave, he or 167
she must provide his or her appointing authority or supervisor 168
with a physician's statement that states the beginning date of the 169
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catastrophic injury or illness, a description of the injury or 170
illness, and a prognosis for recovery and the anticipated date 171
that the recipient employee will be able to return to work. 172
(e) If an employee is aggrieved by the decision of his 173
or her appointing authority that the employee is not eligible to 174
receive donated leave because the injury or illness of the 175
employee or member of the employee's immediate family is not, in 176
the appointing authority's determination, a catastrophic injury or 177
illness, the employee may appeal the decision to the employee 178
appeals board. 179
(f) Beginning on March 25, 2003, the maximum period of 180
time that an employee may use donated leave without resuming work 181
at his or her place of employment is ninety (90) days, which 182
commences on the first day that the recipient employee uses 183
donated leave. Donated leave that is not used because a recipient 184
employee has used the maximum amount of donated leave authorized 185
under this paragraph shall be returned to the donor employees in 186
the manner provided under paragraph (g) of this subsection. 187
(g) If the total amount of leave that is donated to any 188
employee is not used by the recipient employee, the donated leave 189
shall be returned to the donor employees on a pro rata basis, 190
based on the ratio of the number of days of leave donated by each 191
donor employee to the total number of days of leave donated by all 192
donor employees. 193
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(h) The failure of any appointing authority or 194
supervisor of any employee to properly deduct an employee's 195
donation of leave to another employee from the donor employee's 196
earned personal leave or major medical leave shall constitute just 197
cause for the dismissal of the appointing authority or supervisor. 198
(i) No person through the use of coercion, threats or 199
intimidation shall require or attempt to require any employee to 200
donate his or her leave to another employee. Any person who 201
alleges a violation of this paragraph shall report the violation 202
to the executive head of the agency by whom he or she is employed 203
or, if the alleged violator is the executive head of the agency, 204
then the employee shall report the violation to the State 205
Personnel Board. Any person found to have violated this paragraph 206
shall be subject to removal from office or termination of 207
employment. 208
(j) No employee can donate leave after tendering notice 209
of separation for any reason or after termination. 210
(k) Recipient employees of agencies with more than five 211
hundred (500) employees as of March 25, 2003, may receive donated 212
leave only from donor employees within the same agency. A 213
recipient employee in an agency with five hundred (500) or fewer 214
employees as of March 25, 2003, may receive donated leave from any 215
donor employee. 216
(l) In order for an employee to be eligible to receive 217
donated leave, the employee must: 218
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ST: State employees; authorize to use major
medical leave for their mental health care or
treatment.
(i) Have been employed for a total of at least 219
twelve (12) months by the employer on the date on which the leave 220
is donated; and 221
(ii) Have been employed for at least one thousand 222
two hundred fifty (1,250) hours of service with such employer 223
during the previous twelve-month period from the date on which the 224
leave is donated. 225
(m) Donated leave shall not be used in lieu of 226
disability retirement. 227
(n) For the purposes of this subsection, "immediate 228
family" means spouse, parent, stepparent, sibling, child or 229
stepchild. 230
(9) An employee may use up to six (6) weeks of earned major 231
medical leave for the birth of the employee's biological child or 232
for the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or 233
foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one (1) 234
year of placement, after using the paid parental leave authorized 235
under Section 25-3-105 for the birth or adoption of the child. 236
(10) The provisions of this section shall be subject to the 237
provisions of Section 25-3-105. If there is any conflict between 238
any of the provisions of this section and any of the provisions of 239
Section 25-3-105, the provisions of Section 25-3-105 shall 240
control. 241
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from 242
and after July 1, 2026. 243