Appeal an unemployment denial in Mississippi
An appeal has short deadlines. Find your deadline, then use the letter and checklist to get ready.
All about unemployment in Mississippi
Checked against official sources: October 31, 2026.
Levels of appeal and deadlines
Request for reconsideration of an initial determination
MDES
- Deadline
14 calendar days from the date the determination was mailed or sent electronically
- How to file
- You may ask MDES to reconsider an initial determination for good cause. If wages are missing from your Monetary Determination, contact the MDES Call Center and ask for a redetermination.
- If it is late
- MDES may consider a late request if there are compelling circumstances, such as fraud or a misunderstanding of the facts.
- While you appeal
- Keep certifying (filing your weekly or biweekly claims).
Law: Miss. Code Ann. sec. 71-5-517; MDES Regulation 301.00
Official source: Source page
Appeal to an Administrative Law Judge (Appeals Department)
MDES Appeals Department (Administrative Law Judge)
- Deadline
14 calendar days from the date the determination was mailed to your last known address or sent to your email address on record
- Weekends and holidays
- If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, legal holiday or a day MDES is closed, you have until the end of the next business day.
- How to file
- File by U.S. mail to the address on the determination, by fax to the number on the determination, in person at any WIN Job Center, electronically at the address on the determination, or by phone at the number on the determination.
- While you appeal
- Keep certifying (filing your weekly or biweekly claims).
Law: Miss. Code Ann. sec. 71-5-517; MDES Regulation 200.01
Official source: Source page
Appeal to the Board of Review
MDES Board of Review
- Deadline
14 calendar days from the date of notification of the Administrative Law Judge's decision
- How to file
- Follow the appeal instructions printed on the judge's decision. The Board decides on the record already made at the hearing; it does not schedule a new hearing.
- While you appeal
- Keep certifying (filing your weekly or biweekly claims).
Law: Miss. Code Ann. secs. 71-5-519, 71-5-523; MDES Regulation 200.06(C)
Official source: Source page
Action for judicial review in circuit court
- Deadline
10 calendar days from the date the Board of Review's decision becomes final (10 days after it is mailed or sent electronically)
- What to know
- If you disagree with the Board of Review, you can file an action against MDES in the circuit court of the county where you live within 10 days after the Board's decision becomes final. If you live outside Mississippi, you may file in the county where the employer is, where the claim arose, or where you worked. The court reviews only questions of law. No bond is required. The Board cannot reconsider its own decision made on the record.
Law: Miss. Code Ann. secs. 71-5-529, 71-5-531; MDES Regulation 202.03
Every state must give a fair hearing before an impartial tribunal to anyone whose claim is denied.
Law: 42 U.S.C. 503(a)(3) (Social Security Act sec. 303(a)(3))
Appeal deadline calculator
Pick the appeal and enter the date it runs from. We add the days from the state's rule to that date.
Appeal request letter
Fill in the boxes and get a letter you can print or send. You write the reasons in your own words. The letter is in English because the agency works in English.
Hearing preparation checklist
Logistics and rights from your state's hearing information, plus your own list of witnesses and documents.
The hearing
- Format
- By telephone conference, unless you ask for a video or in-person hearing and MDES decides it is needed. The Notice of Hearing gives a phone number you must call the day before the hearing to leave the number where you can be reached.
- Notice before the hearing
- 7 days
- Documents and witnesses
- Send copies of any exhibits to the Appeals Department and the other party so they are postmarked, faxed, hand-delivered or sent electronically at least 3 days before the hearing. Documents you gave MDES before the appeal are not part of the record unless they are resubmitted or discussed at the hearing.
- Subpoena
- Ask the judge in writing and explain why the subpoena is necessary. The judge decides whether to issue it.
- If you miss it
- If you filed the appeal and do not appear, the judge can decide against you by default. To ask for a good cause hearing, send a written request explaining why you missed it no later than 14 days after the decision was mailed or sent. A continuance request must be made at least 3 days before the hearing and show good cause.
Law: MDES Regulations 200.02, 200.04(F), 200.05
Overpayments and waivers
An overpayment means you were paid benefits you were not eligible for. You must repay it, and it must be paid off before you can get future benefits. If MDES finds fraud (including not reporting earnings), it adds a 20% penalty and 1% interest a month on the unpaid balance, and can disqualify you for up to 52 more weeks.
- Appeal within
- 14 days from the date the determination was mailed or sent electronically
- Fraud penalty
- 20% added when the overpayment is fraud
- Waiver
- Not available in our data for regular benefits.
- How the state collects
- MDES can take the overpayment out of future benefits and collect it like unpaid employer taxes, including liens that last 7 years and can be renewed, and warrants to levy on wages or other money owed to you (only after your appeal rights are used up). It can also take your Mississippi income tax refund; you get a notice and 30 days to ask for a hearing to contest that state setoff. Your federal tax refund can be taken only for an overpayment caused by fraud or unreported earnings, after a notice giving you at least 60 days to respond.
Law: Miss. Code Ann. secs. 71-5-19(4), 71-5-389, 71-5-517; Miss. Code Ann. sec. 71-5-543
What federal law adds on overpayments
- Whether an overpayment can be waived, and how to ask, depends on your state's law. See your state's page.
- Your federal tax refund can be taken to pay a past-due state unemployment overpayment caused by fraud or by not reporting your earnings, once it is final under state law. Before this happens, the state must notify you and give you at least 60 days to show that the debt is not owed or not legally enforceable.
Law: 26 U.S.C. 6402(f)
- For fraud overpayments, the state must add a penalty of at least 15 percent.
Law: 42 U.S.C. 503(a)(11)
Free help
Call 601-493-9427. Legal aid and other free help in Mississippi → Official sources →
More questions about unemployment in Mississippi
Where can I get free help with an unemployment claim in Mississippi?
North Mississippi Rural Legal Services (free civil legal aid, northern Mississippi) and WIN Job Centers (free help with claims and job search).