Any Live Event company that works in the state of California knows that AB5, a California labor law that was enacted in 2020, has impacted AV companies that work with skilled freelancers. In fact, it’s made it nearly impossible to work with independent AV technicians in California due to the strict rules placed on payroll compliance.

In short, AB5 specifies payroll regulations requiring most independent contractors to be administered as W-2 employees vs 1099 contractors. This employee classification means that any AV technician who works on a freelance basis must receive overtime pay, regular breaks, and minimum wages in accordance with the various requirements of California law. The result is that AV companies have a host of new freelancer management challenges that weren’t there before.

Mertzcrew has found a solution to help live event companies work with freelancers while still adhering to California AB5 requirements. We’ve partnered with PayrollCrew, a company that streamlines the payroll process, enabling companies to meet compliance requirements while still utilizing skilled freelancers.

PayrollCrew Enables AV Companies to Stay within AB5 Requirements

PayrollCrew is a company that specializes in freelancer payroll services in the state of California. Companies that utilize PayrollCrew can remain compliant with labor laws without worrying about the complexities of regulatory and tax compliance because the PayrollCrew efficiently meets AB5 requirements.

Without PayrollCrew, companies would need to add independent contractors to their own company’s payroll. That’s a significant administrative burden with high risk, since any mistake in the payroll system could lead to penalties and fees from the California Franchise Tax Board, Internal Revenue Service, or a number of other California agencies that have jurisdiction over how payroll is processed in California.

You may be wondering, What specific features does PayrollCrew offer to simplify payroll processes? Here are some of their most important payroll processing features.

• Seamless integration with Mertzcrew.
• AV technicians can use the Mertzcrew interface they’re familiar with to enter the services they work and other pertinent information.
• Calculating challenging regular and overtime rules in compliance with California law.
• Tracking and calculating the required paid and unpaid meal and rest breaks.
• Automatic deduction of required taxes, including ordinary payroll taxes.
• Payment for all hours worked in a timely manner.
• End-of-year tax reporting for all contractors.

Using PayrollCrew with Mertzcrew provides you with a freelance management system and payroll management, ensuring that you avoid running into a costly payroll compliance issue in California.

Streamline Your Payroll Management with Mertzcrew’s Custom Software

Mertzcrew provides custom freelance management software for AV companies. In most states, our software is sufficient to enable production companies to remain compliant with local, state, and federal laws. California has become an exception.

We chose to partner with PayrollCrew because we feel they offer the best solution to leverage our familiar, AV-crewing freelancer management system with payroll software to streamline California payroll compliance. 

You want to focus on producing events that wow your clients, not spend time figuring out a new payroll processing system to ensure that you’re not in violation of labor laws. 

Here’s an overview of how contractors will enter their hours worked, expenses, and other relevant information if you sign up with Mertzcrew and use PayrollCrew for payroll management.

Step 1: Seamless Integration with Mertzcrew

The first step is choosing Mertzcrew with PayrollCrew added-on as your freelancer management system and your California freelancing solution.

PayrollCrew integrates seamlessly with Mertzcrew, meaning that you and your crew can use Mertzcrew’s familiar interface to manage freelancers and have them log their hours and other relevant information. Behind the scenes, PayrollCrew will handle all payroll compliance issues.

Step 2: Technicians Enter Their Services

The next step is that your AV contractors will enter the time they have worked, including paid breaks, unpaid meal breaks, and overtime hours. 

From an AV technician’s perspective, there won’t be any visible changes. They’ll enter their hours and do everything else as they have always done while using Mertzcrew.

Step 3: PayrollCrew Calculates Compliant Pay with All Relevant Deductions

After a technician enters their work hours and expenses, PayrollCrew calculates compliant payments in accordance with California-specific pay rules, including the following:

• Overtime pay (1.5X and 2X pay based on thresholds for daily and weekly hours worked.)
• Meal penalties (Cash penalties if AV workers aren’t offered or don’t take required unpaid meal breaks.)
• Rest penalties (Cash penalties if you don’t provide AV workers with required, paid breaks.)
• Sick leave tracking/sick leave allowance.
• Tax withholding.

The administrative costs associated with compliant tracking and calculation add up quickly, so utilizing Mertzcrew with PayrollCrew alleviates the burden, making it possible for live event companies to comply with California law.

Step 4: PayrollCrew Ensures Tax Compliance

The other challenging element of payroll compliance is making sure that all necessary tax withholdings are taken and that freelancers receive proper end-of-year tax reporting for their records. 

PayrollCrew will ensure payroll tax compliance for you and the freelancers you work with by:

• Collecting I-9 forms
• Collecting the Employee Training Tax (ETT)
• Withholding California state taxes as required, including state withholding and sick leave allowance
• Curating and sending end-of-year tax reporting to all freelancers

At Mertzcrew, our mission is to safeguard the success of live event companies by helping them navigate the complexities of managing freelancers. Partnering with PayrollCrew is a key part of this mission. Together, we provide the tools and support you need to protect your team, streamline operations, and ensure your focus remains on delivering unforgettable events for your clients.

Mertzcrew Keeps AV Companies Protected During Every Project

It’s our job at Mertzcrew to seek out current pain points in the AV industry and solve them, enabling our clients to focus on their craft.

As soon as AB5 was signed into law in California, we knew we would embrace the challenge of finding a workable solution to help our clients adhere to new payroll laws. 

Our custom freelance management system already helps companies in the AV industry to overcome challenges, including identifying the most skilled AV freelancers, onboarding them, providing workers comp and general liability insurance if they don’t already have it, tracking insurance, creating compliant contracts, and paying freelancers in a timely manner.

The enactment of AB5 added a new set of challenges to the list, and we chose PayrollCrew as our partner to protect the AV companies we serve. 

Effectively, we have added California state labor law compliance to our list of AV crew management solutions. Our seamless interface with PayrollCrew means that you and your AV technicians won’t need to learn new software. Instead, you can do what you’ve always done, using Mertzcrew to help you produce amazing events on behalf of your clients.

Conclusion

Our partnership with PayrollCrew enables AV companies to remain compliant with California laws while still accessing our custom crew management features, including crew vetting and onboarding, custom contracts, insurance, and invoicing solutions.

The best part about using Mertzcrew with PayrollCrew is that you won’t need to think about the complex requirements under AB5. PayrollCrew will handle everything from overtime calculations to tax compliance without you needing to do any additional work. That aligns perfectly with our mission of making it as easy as possible to hire skilled AV professionals and produce high-quality, memorable events.

Are you ready to give Mertzcrew with PayrollCrew a try for your California events? Schedule a demo now!