J.Lamar,Jr_June 26, 2020 – County Payroll System

550 HIGH STREET • SUITE 1200 • JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI 39201 POST OFFICE BOX 220 • JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI 39205 TELEPHONE (601) 359-3680 June 26, 2020 John T. Lamar, Jr., Esq. Attorney for the Tate County Board of Supervisors 910 E.F. Hale Drive Senatobia, Mississippi 38668 Re: County Payroll System Dear Mr. Lamar: The Office of the Attorney General is in receipt of your request for the issuance of an official opinion. Question Presented If a county elected official decides not to use a time clock or computer login, but would rather continue to use paper time sheets, can the board of supervisors require the elected officials to manually upload their employees’ time from their time sheets to the payroll software for the payroll clerk to process and make payment? Brief Response The Board of Supervisors is not authorized to implement a new payroll system as part of its personnel administration and require other county elected officials to manually enter their employees’ time sheets into this system if the elected official has chosen to, and filed with the board, his/her own system of personnel administration, i.e., paper time sheets. Applicable Law and Discussion This office has previously opined that a board of supervisors has no authority to require county employees in the other elected county officials’ offices to use a time clock system for its payroll administration. MS AG Op., Abraham (April 18, 2012)(citing MS AG Op., McWilliams (January 20, 2012)). John T. Lamar, Jr., Esq. June 26, 2020 Page 2 550 HIGH STREET • SUITE 1200 • JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI 39201 POST OFFICE BOX 220 • JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI 39205 TELEPHONE (601) 359-3680 As stated in the McWilliams opinion, elected officials of counties operating on a countywide system who are authorized by law to employ their own employees are authorized to adopt their own system of personnel administration, or they can choose to adopt the system adopted by the board of supervisors. If they adopt their own system, it must be filed with the board of supervisors. A countywide system of “payroll documentation,” such as that proposed in your letter, including use of a time clock, falls within the purview of personnel administration and, thus, cannot be mandated by the board to be used by employees of all elected officials. We hereby affirm our opinions in McWilliams and Abraham. It is, therefore, the opinion of this office that the board of supervisors is not authorized to implement and require elected officials to use a countywide system of payroll documentation, which may or may not include a time clock or other software if that elected official has chosen to, and filed with the board, his/her own system of personnel administration. Thus, the elected officials of Tate County may continue to use paper time sheets to document their respective employees’ work hours as part of their own personnel systems and should turn employee time sheets over to the county payroll clerk for entry into the software system that the Tate County Board of Supervisors has chosen to utilize for its personnel administration. 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/ Kim P. Turner Kim P. Turner Assistant Attorney General