Happy New Year

    Is it too late in the year already to say that? Oh well, Happy New Year. A lot has happened since my last blog, including the holiday season. As many of you know, I have a 3 year old son (Sawyer) and a 2 year old daughter (Charlotte), so the Christmas holidays were a blast at my house. Santa made his annual appearance at the Hawkins’ residence with a bag full of toys, despite the amount of times we weaponized Santa against the kids to behave throughout December!

    While we enjoyed the holiday season, it can be a loooong break. As a kid, my dad was a catfish farmer. Sort of like my profession, I have the ability to work my own schedule, but am never really “off the clock”. When the kids were around the house too long, my dad would always leave to go “run birds”, as he would say. Essentially, he would shoot birds from the ponds trying to eat the fish. While it was a necessary part of the job at times, now that I am a dad and have young kids, I am quickly realizing he was just getting away from us for breaks. In hindsight, I can’t blame him. I love my wife and kids more than anything, but I was glad to get back in the swing of things with work and a schedule. Many of you can relate, I know!

    I said we had a great Christmas, and below are a few of my favorite moments from the 2018 holiday season:

    2019 promises to bring change in the workers’ compensation arena in Mississippi. First and foremost, many of you have asked about the 2019 mileage and compensation rates. Effective January 1, 2019, the 2019 mileage rate will be $0.58. As it relates to the maximum compensation rate, in 2019, that will be $494.48, which would correlate to a lifetime disability maximum of $222,516.00.

    There are other changes occurring at the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Commissioner Thomas Webb has served his full term as one of the three Commissioners after his prior appointment. Commissioner Webb will continue to serve until his replacement has been confirmed by the Senate, though his term technically expired on December 31, 2018.

    Who is in line to become the next Commissioner? For those of you who have been in this business for any significant length of time, it will likely be a familiar face. Mark Henry has been appointed to a six-year term to take the place of Commissioner Webb as one of the three Commissioners. Mr. Henry served as an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) from 2000-2008, before he became the Chief of Staff for then Lieut. Gov. Phil Bryant. While Mr. Henry will still need to go through the Senate approval process, it is anticipated that will be a formality and that he will take over as the new Commissioner at some point in early 2019, leaving behind his position as the Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.

    Mr. Henry served as an ALJ prior to my practice, so we have yet to formally meet. However, I have spoken to many of my law partners, as well as others in the legal community, and Mr. Henry’s appointment is certainly seen as favorable. He has been described to me as being intelligent, knowledgeable of the law and fair to all parties. I very much look forward to working with Mr. Henry for years to come.

P.S. As many of you are aware, our Firm hosts an annual seminar devoted exclusively to workers’ compensation. We will have both in-house speakers discussing the legal side of the practice, as well as excellent outside speakers. Of course, you will be afforded the opportunity to obtain educational hours, as well as a 2019 copy of our seminar book, which many of you use daily. The seminar will be on February 13, 2019. We will have a happy hour to follow as well. We would love to have as many of you join us as possible. The session will end with a game show I am hosting, so it should be informative and entertaining. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding the seminar. A link to sign up is under the tab “USEFUL LINKS”.