State employees; authorize to use major medical leave for their mental health care or treatment.
Summary
HB60 amends Mississippi’s major medical leave law for state employees to expressly allow the use of major medical leave for an employee’s mental health care or treatment. The bill specifies that this leave may be used for treatment with a psychiatrist, psychologist, or licensed professional counselor, and it applies the same procedural rules that already govern major medical leave and personal leave for an employee’s physical illness. Those rules include existing requirements about when leave may be used, certification for certain absences, and the relationship between major medical leave and personal leave.
The bill does not create a separate mental health leave bank; instead, it expands the permitted uses of an existing leave category already available to most state employees and certain university faculty. The underlying statute also continues to govern accrual rates, leave donation, retirement credit, family illness, bereavement, work-related injury coordination with workers’ compensation, and adoption/foster-care leave. The effective date is July 1, 2025.
Impact
HB60 would amend Section 25-3-95 of the Mississippi Code to add mental health treatment as an authorized use of major medical leave for state employees. In practical terms, state agencies would need to treat qualifying mental health appointments and treatment the same way they treat covered physical illness absences under the major medical leave system, subject to the same leave-use conditions already in law. The bill affects state employees, appointed officers, and covered public university faculty, but it does not alter leave accrual rates, retirement credit rules, or the broader leave-donation framework.
Sentiment
The available context suggests generally favorable sentiment toward the bill, or at least no recorded opposition in the materials provided. The caption frames the measure as an authorization for state employees to use existing leave for mental health care, which is typically presented as an employee-support and workplace-wellness policy. No committee transcript or vote record is included, so there is no documented debate or recorded split in the provided materials.
Contention
The main substantive issue is the scope of the new leave use: HB60 extends major medical leave to mental health care, but only for treatment with specified licensed professionals and only under the same conditions that already apply to major medical leave and personal leave for illness. That means the bill is an expansion of eligible uses, not a new entitlement, and any contention would likely center on administrative implementation, verification requirements, and whether the existing leave rules are sufficient for mental health treatment needs. No specific objections, amendments, or opposing arguments appear in the provided record.