Mississippi Law Enforcement and Fire Fighters
Premium Pay Program Summary
MSDPS Office of Grants Administration
Program Summary
The Mississippi Legislature has given the Mississippi Department of Public Safety the responsibility of providing funds to law enforcement officers and firefighters as premium pay for their heightened risk during the ongoing federal COVID-19 public health emergency. These payments may begin on July 1, 2022 and will be in the amount of $1,000.00 for each eligible individual.
Eligibility Requirements
Eligible individuals must be certified, full-time and part-time law enforcement officers or certified, full-time and part-time firefighters who are currently serving in the State of Mississippi as of July 1, 2022. Those individuals who have already received hazard pay from the Governor's discretionary funds authorized by the Legislature from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act are not eligible. The Commissioner of Insurance has been authorized to certify that all requesting firefighters are in full compliance with their set standards and then provide these names to the Department of Public Safety. If a person is an eligible individual in more than one position covered under this paragraph, that person will only be eligible for one payment of premium pay. Eligible law enforcement officers and firefighters must complete the required COVID-19 training which can be found here: Premium Pay Training.pptx. Upon conclusion of the training first responders will confirm their completion by signing the required affidavit found under the payment guidelines.
Payment/Reimbursement Guidelines
If your department qualifies for first responder premium payments, please begin the process as soon as possible. DPS requires several actions be taken before the payment can be finalized:
- Registration - If the agency does not already have a supplier number, they must register for said number through the Department of Finance and Administration. This can be done at the following link.
Supplier Self-Registration - Governing Authority Approval – The governing authority by which eligible recipients are employed must approve the acceptance of premium payments from DPS and authorize those payments to be made to eligible recipients under their jurisdiction. Proof of such approval shall be in the form of a certified copy of board minutes in which the governing authority adopts the DPS approved resolution. The resolution can be found at the below links:
Non-Sheriff - Governing Body Resolution
Sheriff - Governing Body Resolution - Eligible Recipients List and Affidavits – Each department must provide DPS with a dated list of all eligible recipients in their department. Eligible recipients must provide a copy of their certificate of completion after finishing the required COVID-19 training course. Also, each department must provide a signed affidavit from the department and each eligible recipient certifying their acceptance of the terms and conditions for receiving a premium payment. Affidavits can be found at the below links:
Premium Pay Entity Affidavit.pdf
Premium Pay Individual Affidavit.pdf - Reimbursements - The Mississippi Department of Public Safety is currently reviewing relevant federal laws regulations, and guidance related to reimbursements. If any entity has a question, please contact the DPS Grants Administration Division for more information.
- Payments – After DPS receives and reviews all of the required documentation (see numbers two, three, and four above for the required documents), DPS will issue a payment to the department for the sum of all the eligible participants that were submitted. It will be the responsibility of the department to issue the payments to each of the eligible recipients within their departments. DPS will require proof of all payments once the departments have issued out these funds.
- Records - All records pertaining to the officer premium pay must be kept by your department for a minimum of four years and will be subject to audit from the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor and/or federal auditors.
- Ineligible use and repayment of funds - If the Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of the Treasury, or the Office of Inspector General of any other federal agency having oversight over the use of monies from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund established by ARPA (a) determines that the department or recipient has expended or otherwise used any of the funds appropriated to the department under this act for any purpose that is not in compliance with the guidelines, guidance, rules, regulations and/or other criteria, as may be amended from time to time, of the United States Department of the Treasury regarding the use of monies from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund established by ARPA, and (b) the State of Mississippi is required to repay the federal government for any of those funds that the Office of the Inspector General determined were expended or otherwise used improperly by the department or recipient, then the department or recipient that expended or otherwise used those funds improperly shall be required to pay the amount of those funds to the State of Mississippi for repayment to the federal government.
Documentation may be sent by email to PremiumPay@dps.ms.gov or by hand mail to P.O. Box 958 Jackson, MS 39205-0958.
Any questions or concerns can be addressed by email at PremiumPay@dps.ms.gov or by phone at 601-987-1368.
Once these requirements have been met, DPS will work efficiently to provide payments to all qualifying sworn officers and firefighters. If there are any questions, please feel free to contact the MS Department of Public Safety’s Grants Administration Office.
Craig Greer
PremiumPay@dps.ms.gov
Grants Administration
601-987-1368