We wanted to shared some exciting news: As of April 13th, ALL Hype! talent are being classified as W2 variable hour employees, rather than 1099 Contractors.
When evaluating your event staffing partners, most of you put cost, customer service, and talent quality first. Here at Hype!, we share these values but believe in one more: SECURITY. It’s certainly not a new issue in our industry, but the importance of classifying event staff as W2 variable hour employees, rather than 1099 contractors has never been greater.
According to employment law, brands and agencies who partner with event staffing agencies are often times just as responsible for the staff as the company that hired them, from tax liability to worker’s compensation claims.”Many staffing companies in the event marketing and promotional industry may be living on the brink if the personnel they send to their clients are paid on a 1099 basis,” says Richard J. Reibstein, partner at law firm PepperHamilton, which has handled many such cases. “There’s nothing wrong with sending 1099ers who are genuine independent contractors-but many of the folks sent to corporate clients may not qualify for IC status under federal or state laws.”
Long story short, Hype! wants all of our clients and partners to feel secure and free of any unnecessary liability associated with classifying the talent we provide as 1099 contractors. So, as of April 13th, ALL Hype! talent are being classified as W2 variable hour employees.
How does this affect you? Well, we have good news for you! Here are just a few of the benefits our clients will experience thanks to this transition:
This will have a minor impact on our pricing model. The costs are simply there to cover the resulting taxes associated with hiring W2 employees. As always, Hype! is committed to ensuring we offer the best talent and the most affordable rates, so we will be doing everything we can to mitigate these new fees and ensure the impact to your budgets is minimal.
We’re thrilled to be one of the few NATIONWIDE EVENT STAFFING AGENCIES to appropriately classify our talent and ensure all of our client’s best interests are protected. We look forward to our continued work with you, and for those of you who have yet to experience the Hype! effect, we hope to hear from you soon!
If you have any questions regarding this new change and how it will affect future events, please contact Dayna Gilchrist or Kate Bright directly!