Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to us at Veritas Recruitment.

Veritas Recruitment aims to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles (“APPs”) in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”) where they apply to you. Veritas Recruitment also aims to comply with any applicable State privacy laws under the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) or the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW)) if they apply. Collectively, these laws are called “Privacy Laws” in this policy.

This privacy policy explains how we collect personal information and how we maintain, use and disclose that information, where the Veritas Recruitment has obligations under Privacy Laws. It also provides details about your privacy rights.

In this policy, “Veritas Recruitment” means the following relevant entity that you applied for a job with or through:

• if you applied via the Essendon Fields branch – Veritas Recruitment Essendon Pty Ltd; or
• if you applied via the Clayton branch (except for positions with Veritas Recruitment Group Pty Ltd) – Veritas Recruitment Clayton Pty Ltd; or
• if you applied for a position with Veritas Recruitment Group Pty Ltd – that entity; or
• if you applied via the Paramatta branch – Veritas Recruitment Paramatta Pty Ltd; or
• if you applied via the Sydney branch – Veritas Recruitment Sydney Pty Ltd
  

Not all Privacy Laws apply to all candidates and potential candidates. Factors affecting whether one or more Privacy Laws apply to you in a particular instance include:

• whether your employment, or prospective employment, is subject to a public health direction;
• whether you are a temporary on-hire labour employee, or alternatively, a potential employee; and
• where you are a temporary on-hire labour employee - the turnover of the entity for whom you work.

By way of example, acts or practices of a private sector employer are exempt from the Privacy Act and APPs where this is directly related to:

• a current or former employment relationship between the employer and the individual; and
• an employee record held by the organisation and relating to the individual.

Employee records means a record of personal information relating to the employment of the employee. Personal information may be health information or other employment information.

If this policy directly or indirectly addresses a Privacy Law that does not apply to you then that part of the policy has no effect. Veritas Recruitment makes no representation or commitment that it will comply with Privacy Laws and corresponding parts of this policy where the relevant Privacy Law does not apply to you.

Personal information is any information or an opinion about you that is reasonably capable of identifying you. It includes sensitive information (e.g., a medical history or condition) to everyday information (e.g., name, age, address and phone number). Personal information includes “sensitive information” and “health information” as those terms are defined in applicable Federal and State legislation.

It includes the opinions of others about your work performance, your work experience and qualifications, aptitude, physical, medical and psychological assessment results and other information obtained by us in connection with your possible work placements.

Veritas Recruitment may collect personal information where that information is reasonably necessary to perform our business functions or activities.

Sensitive information is a category of personal information. It is information or an opinion about your:

• racial or ethnic origin;
• political opinions;
• membership of a political association
• religious beliefs, affiliations or philosophical beliefs;
• membership of a professional or trade association or membership of a trade union;
• sexual orientation or practices;
• criminal record;
• health; and
• genetics or biometrics.
  

We do not actively seek to collect sensitive information unless it is reasonably necessary for our business functions or activities. We may only collect sensitive information about you where you consent and/or where we are required to do so under a law (for example, a public health direction).

Veritas Recruitment may collect and hold personal information about you, including your;

• name;
• contact details;
• skills;
• qualifications;
• accreditations;
• education;
• employment history;
• references; and
• information regarding your employment objectives.

The majority of personal information we collect will be directly from you. We will make efforts to only collect sensitive information directly from you. We may collect personal information from sources including but not limited to your:

• resume;
• cover letter;
• telephone conversations;
• registration forms;
• interviews;
• emails; and
• applications made to Veritas Recruitment.

By proceeding with your application for employment you consent to us using information in your application to assess your application and to allow us to carry out any reference checking and other related activities.

We may collect personal information about you from other sources, including from: New Paragraph

• third parties;
• other persons acting on your behalf;
• publicly available sources and records;
• websites (e.g., seek.com.au);
• results of inquiries and information gathering activities we might make, including with your former employers, work colleagues, professional associations or registration bodies; and
• any complaint, insurance investigation, litigation, registration or professional disciplinary matter, criminal matter, inquest or inquiry in which you were involved.

When you visit our websites, we may collect information you give us when:

• registering or subscribing to our services or requesting further services on any of our websites;
• you contact us to report a problem with our websites or make any enquiry or query or comment; or
• you apply online for a job or work with Veritas Recruitment
  

Veritas Recruitment collects personal information where it is reasonably necessary for, or related to, our business functions or activities.

Where practical and reasonable in circumstances, the purpose for which we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information (and the consequences of not providing it) will be made clear at the time of collection, or otherwise as set out in this policy.

Generally, we will only use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes including:New Paragraph

Also, where you are a candidate, to send your personal information to: 

• clients in order to apply for jobs;
• different parts of Veritas Recruitment to enable the development and marketing of other products and services and to improve our customer service and to make our services more valuable to you;
• trusted third parties where we have retained them to provide services that you have requested, such as psychometric evaluations or skills tests, and who also provide services to us, such as professional advisers, IT consultants, mailing houses and function co-ordinators;
• our insurers or legal advisors where required;
• regulatory or law enforcement authorities, if they require us to do so.

We may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for any other purpose not listed above.

Where authorised or permitted by law, your personal information may be disclosed to:

• potential and actual employers and clients and potential clients of Veritas Recruitment;
• referees;
• education providers to verify your qualifications;
• external providers of online training and induction;
• former employers;
• our legal advisors and insurers;
• a workers’ compensation body;
• government departments or bodies (or their agents);
• Centrelink and its assessors;
• doctors and other medical service providers;
• family members;
• a designated, registered training provider in relation to training and personal development opportunities;
• any third parties for the purposes described in this privacy policy; and
• any person with a lawful entitlement to obtain the information.

Veritas Recruitment may disclose personal information to individuals or organisations overseas where this is necessary to perform our business functions or activities.

Veritas Recruitment will generally not disclose your personal information to an organisation or individual overseas unless:

• the country to which it is being disclosed has a similar level of privacy protection to Australia;
• you, or your authorised or legal representative, has consented to the disclosure; or
• the disclosure is otherwise authorised or permitted by law.

Veritas Recruitment may provide access to candidate CV’s to its employee(s) or contractor(s) located in India for the purposes of formatting the CV’s. Access is provided to the Veritas Recruitment database for this purpose. We have entered into specific contractual arrangements with such employee(s) or contractor(s) to ensure that these CV’s are handled in accordance with all relevant Australian privacy laws, including contractual obligations to ensure that this information is appropriately safeguarded against interference, unauthorised access and misuse.

You may submit your CV to Veritas Recruitment via our website, either for general consideration by our recruitment consultants for positions as they arise or to apply for a specific advertised job. It will be uploaded to our database. This database, including your personal information, can be accessed by any of our Veritas Recruitment consultants. You can update your CV at any time, simply by following the same procedure to submit a new CV via our websites.

You may sign up to receive emails that alert you to new jobs on our website (“Job Alerts”). To subscribe to Job Alerts, you need to provide your email address, which may be used for the purpose of keeping you informed by email of the latest jobs and/or news in your nominated industry. If you no longer wish to receive Job Alerts, unsubscribe links are provided in every Job Alert email that you receive.

We gather information and statistics about all visitors to our website, including the most frequently accessed pages and most frequently used services. We only use such data in aggregate form (that is, the information does not identify any one individual). This information helps us determine the most beneficial parts of our websites and ways in which we can continually improve our online services to create a better overall experience for our users.

When you visit our websites, we collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the website. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information.

External sites that are linked to or from the Veritas Recruitment web site are not under our control and you are advised to review their privacy policies. Users should note there are inherent risks associated with the transmission of information via the Internet and you should therefore make your own assessment of the potential risk to the security of your information.

Veritas Recruitment may collect, record, hold, use or disclose information relating to your vaccination status against COVID-19, including any valid medical exemption (“Vaccination Information”). Vaccination Information is a type of sensitive information dealt with under Privacy Laws and this policy.

Veritas Recruitment aims to ensure Vaccination Information is treated confidentially and in accordance with applicable legislation.

Why we collect and hold Vaccination Information

Veritas Recruitment collects Vaccination Information to:

• help manage and reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission between candidates and Veritas Recruitment staff, clients and the wider public; 
• ensure compliance with Veritas Recruitment’s obligations under health and safety legislation;
• ensure Veritas Recruitment’s compliance with any applicable public health direction in place from time to time;
• support the compliance of Veritas Recruitment’s clients with such obligations; and/or
• any related purposes to those described above.

Once collected, Veritas Recruitment holds vaccination information for as long as required to fulfill these purposes.

What information we collect

Candidates may be asked to provide acceptable evidence to Veritas Recruitment of their COVID-19 vaccination status unless they have a valid medical exemption. Acceptable evidence includes:

• a COVID-19 digital certificate (Individual Healthcare Identifier to be redacted); and
• an immunisation history statement.

Veritas may determine that other evidence of COVID-19 vaccination is acceptable.

Candidates who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 may be asked to provide acceptable evidence to Veritas Recruitment of a valid medical exemption. Acceptable evidence must be in the form required by any public health direction in force or as otherwise determined by Veritas Recruitment.New Paragraph

Collection of information

By providing Vaccination Information to Veritas Recruitment, you consent to the collection of that information by the Company.

You acknowledge that this collection is reasonably necessary for, and directly related to, functions and activities of Veritas Recruitment. You also acknowledge that this collection is not unreasonably intrusive.

Disclosure of Vaccination Information

Veritas Recruitment may disclose Vaccination Information to third parties (included those listed at section 8of this policy) to the extent necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy. For example, Veritas Recruitment may share a candidate’s Vaccination Information with a client or potential client that the candidate will or may be assigned to where that client or potential client:

• is subject to a public health direction requiring unvaccinated persons not to enter their premises; or
• otherwise requires that all staff (including labour-hire staff) be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

By providing Vaccination Information to Veritas Recruitment, you consent to the disclosure of Vaccination Information to third parties for the purposes specified in this policy and for any related purposes.

Failure to provide Vaccination Information

If you choose not to provide Vaccination Information to Veritas Recruitment when requested, Veritas Recruitment must assume that you are unvaccinated against COVID-19. This may have consequences for your ongoing employment with Veritas Recruitment (if you are a temporary on-hire labour employee) or your potential placement with clients. Veritas may not be able to provide you with employment or a placement (as applicable) where you are unvaccinated.

Information no longer needed

Veritas Recruitment may destroy or de-identify Vaccination Information that is no longer needed. Veritas Recruitment aims to ensure this information is disposed of securely. 

Victorian public health directions 

At the time of preparing this policy, public health directions in Victoria require Veritas Recruitment not to permit unvaccinated workers (as defined in the directions) to work outside their ordinary place of residence, unless an exception applies (for example, you are a general worker as defined in the directions and it is not reasonably practicable to work from home). To the extent the public health directions also require Veritas Recruitment to inform you that it has an obligation to collect, record and hold vaccination information about a worker you are so informed of these obligations.

Other laws

If Veritas Recruitment is authorised or required by an Australian law (including a public health direction) or court order to do or not do something in relation to Vaccination Information, this policy does not apply to Veritas Recruitment to the extent this policy is inconsistent with that law or court order.

The internet is not always a secure method of transmitting information. Accordingly, while we seek to protect your personal information by implementing digital security systems in various parts of our website, Veritas Recruitment cannot accept responsibility for the security of information you send to or receive from us over the Internet or for any unauthorised access or use of that information.

Where we have links to websites outside Veritas Recruitment, we cannot ensure that your privacy will be protected in accordance with this policy. You should consult these other websites' privacy policies as we have no control over them and are not responsible for any information that is submitted to or collected by these third parties.

We adhere to the Privacy (Tax File Number) Rule 2015 for the collection, storage, use, disclosure, security and disposal of tax file number information. It is an offence to require, request or collect tax file number information for unauthorised purposes, or to use or disclose tax file number information unless permitted under taxation, personal assistance or superannuation law.

If you give us your tax file number, we will only use or disclose it where you consent, or where the use is authorised or required by law.

Veritas Recruitment is committed to ensuring privacy is respected. This is facilitated through the work of our Privacy Officer.

Our Privacy Officer has the following responsibilities:

• overseeing, the handling of access requests and complaints handling procedures in relation to personal information;
• establishing and administering a process of retrieving, documenting, tracking and investigating all privacy related complaints received by Veritas Recruitment;
• ensuring compliance with privacy practices and sanctions for failure to comply with privacy practices;
• co-ordinate any training required to staff on privacy laws (including as part of new employee induction); and
• acting as a point of contact for the Office of Australian Information Commissioner.

You can contact our Privacy Officer if you would like further information, have comments about this privacy policy or any question or complaint on any privacy issue, by emailing pofficer@veritasrecruitment.com.au. Our Privacy Officer will contact you within a reasonable time after receipt of your request or complaint.

General information about privacy may be found at: http://www.oaic.gov.au/

You may request access or correct your personal information held by Veritas Recruitment by contacting the Veritas Recruitment Privacy Officer by emailing pofficer@veritasrecruitment.com.au.

We may ask to verify your identity and for more information about your request. Where we are legally permitted to do so, we may refuse your request. Where we refuse your request, we will provide written reasons for the refusal. Where you request that your personal information be corrected and there is a dispute about the facts, we will make a note on your personal information of such dispute.

You may also request that Veritas Recruitment stops using your personal information and contacting you and we will comply with your request (for example if at any time you would prefer to stop receiving newsletters and updates from us, please use the “unsubscribe” option included in the email or other material). However, if this involves a request for deletion of your file, please be aware that we may not be required or able to do so, particularly where your file also holds information about our clients.

We reserve the right to charge a reasonable administrative fee for access to, or to correct, personal information, where lawful.

You have the right to complain about the way personal information is handled, and to have your complaint heard and be treated fairly and with respect. Individuals that bring a complaint will not be treated unfavourably, including in the way Veritas Recruitment communicates and provides services either during the resolution of the complaint or once the complaint is resolved. 

Complaints should be referred to the Privacy Officer by emailing pofficer@veritasrecruitment.com.au. The Privacy Officer will consider the complaint and then respond and advise whether the complaint is accepted, and if so, what action Veritas Recruitment will take to resolve the complaint. If the Privacy Officer does not accept the complaint, the Privacy Officer may provide reasons to the complainant. If you are still not satisfied with this response, then the Privacy Officer may suggest that you raise the complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

The Privacy Officer will keep a log of all complaints received and how they have been resolved.

If at any time our privacy policy changes, the updated details will be available on our website for your perusal.