Privacy Policy
Starfish People Ltd is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses the personal data of its workforce, and to meeting its data protection obligations. This policy sets out the organisation’s commitment to data protection and individual rights and obligations in relation to personal data. This policy applies to the personal data of employees, and suppliers referred to as HR-related personal data. This policy does not apply to the personal data of clients or other personal data processed for business purposes].
Starfish People Ltd has appointed David Price-Evans as its data protection officer. His role is to inform and advise Starfish People Ltd on its data protection obligations. He can be contacted at [email protected]. Questions about this policy, or requests for further information, should be directed to the data protection officer.
DEFINITIONS
“Personal data" is any information that relates to a living individual who can be identified from that information. Processing is any use that is made of data, including collecting, storing, amending, disclosing or destroying it.
“Special categories of personal data" means information about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, sex life or sexual orientation and genetic and biometric data. “Criminal records data" means information about an individual’s criminal convictions and o ences, and information relating to criminal allegations and proceedings.
DATA PROTECTION PRINCIPLES
Starfish People Ltd processes HR-related personal data in accordance with the following data protection principles:
• Starfish People Ltd processes personal data lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
• Starfish People Ltd collects personal data only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes.
• Starfish People Ltd processes personal data only where it is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purposes of processing.
• Starfish People Ltd keeps accurate personal data and takes all reasonable steps to ensure that inaccurate personal data is rectified or deleted without delay.
• Starfish People Ltd keeps personal data only for the period necessary for processing.
• Starfish People Ltd adopts appropriate measures to make sure that personal data is secure and protected against unauthorised or unlawful processing, and accidental loss, destruction or damage.
• Starfish People Ltd tells individuals the reasons for processing their personal data, how it uses such data and the legal basis for processing in its privacy notices. It will not process personal data of individuals for other reasons.
• Where Starfish People Ltd relies on its legitimate interests as the basis for processing data, it will carry out an assessment to ensure that those interests are not overridden by the rights and freedoms of individuals.
• Where Starfish People Ltd processes special categories of personal data or criminal records data to perform obligations or to exercise rights in employment law, this is done in accordance with a policy on special categories of data and criminal records data.
• Starfish People Ltd will update HR-related personal data promptly if an individual advises that his/her information has changed or is inaccurate.
• Personal data gathered during the [employment, worker, contractor or volunteer relationship, or apprenticeship or internship] is held in the individual’s personnel file (in hard copy or electronic format, or both), and on HR systems. The periods for which Starfish People Ltd holds HR-related personal data are contained in its privacy notices to individuals.
• Starfish People Ltd keeps a record of its processing activities in respect of HR-related personal data in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
As a data subject, individuals have a number of rights in relation to their personal data.
SUBJECT ACCESS REQUESTS
Individuals have the right to make a subject access request. If an individual makes a subject access request, Starfish People Ltd will tell him/her:
• whether or not his/her data is processed and if so why, the categories of personal data concerned and the source of the data if it is not collected from the individual;
• to whom his/her data is or may be disclosed, including to recipients located outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and the safeguards that apply to such transfers;
• for how long his/her personal data is stored (or how that period is decided);
• his/her rights to rectification or erasure of data, or to restrict or object to processing;
• his/her right to complain to the Information Commissioner if he/she thinks Starfish People Ltd has failed to comply with his/her data protection rights; and
• whether or not Starfish People Ltd carries out automated decision-making and the logic involved in any such decision-making.
Starfish People Ltd will also provide the individual with a copy of the personal data undergoing processing. This will normally be in electronic form if the individual has made a request electronically unless he/she agrees otherwise.
If the individual wants additional copies, Starfish People Ltd will charge a fee, which will be based on the administrative cost to Starfish People Ltd of providing the additional copies.
To make a subject access request, the individual should send the request to [email protected]. In some cases, Starfish People Ltd may need to ask for proof of identification before the request can be processed. Starfish People Ltd will inform the individual if it needs to verify his/her identity and the documents it requires.
Starfish People Ltd will normally respond to a request within a period of one month from the date it is received. In some cases, such as where Starfish People Ltd processes large amounts of the individual’s data, it may respond within three months of the date the request is received. Starfish People Ltd will write to the individual within one month of receiving the original request to tell him/her if this is the case.
If a subject access request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, Starfish People Ltd is not obliged to comply with it. Alternatively, Starfish People Ltd can agree to respond but will charge a fee, which will be based on the administrative cost of responding to the request. A subject access request is likely to be mani- festly unfounded or excessive where it repeats a request to which Starfish People Ltd has already responded. If an individual submits a request that is unfounded or excessive, Starfish People Ltd will notify him/her that this is the case and if it will respond to it.
OTHER RIGHTS
Individuals have a number of other rights in relation to their personal data. They can require Starfish People Ltd to:
RECTIFY INACCURATE DATA:
• stop processing or erase data that is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing;
• stop processing or erase data if the individual’s interests override the organisation’s legitimate grounds for processing data (where Starfish People Ltd relies on its legitimate interests as a reason for processing data);
• stop processing or erase data if processing is unlawful; and
• stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or if there is a dispute about if the individual’s interests override the organisation’s legitimate grounds for processing data.
To ask Starfish People Ltd to take any of these steps, the individual should send the request to david@star- fishpeople.com.
DATA SECURITY
Starfish People Ltd takes the security of HR-related personal data seriously. Starfish People Ltd has internal policies and controls in place to protect personal data against loss, accidental destruction, misuse or disclosure, and to ensure that data is not accessed, except by employees in the proper performance of their duties. Data we hold is encrypted and all personal computers allowing sta to access personal data also have password protection.
Where Starfish People Ltd engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, such parties do so on the basis of written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of data.
DATA BREACHES
If Starfish People Ltd discovers that there has been a breach of HR-related personal data that poses a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, it will report it to the Information Commissioner within 72 hours of discovery. Starfish People Ltd will record all data breaches regardless of their etc.
If the breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, it will tell affected individuals that there has been a breach and provide them with information about its likely consequences and the mitigation measures it has taken.
INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS
Starfish People Ltd will not transfer HR-related personal data to countries outside the EEA.
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Individuals are responsible for helping Starfish People Ltd keep their personal data up to date. Individuals should let Starfish People Ltd know if data provided to Starfish People Ltd changes, for example, if an individual moves house or changes his/her bank details.
Individuals who have access to personal data are required:
• to access only data that they have authority to access and only for authorised purposes;
• not to disclose data except to individuals (whether inside or outside the organisation) who have appropriate authorisation;
• to keep data secure (for example by complying with rules on access to premises, computer access, including password protection, and secure file storage and destruction);
• not to remove personal data, or devices containing or that can be used to access personal data, from the organisation’s premises without adopting appropriate security measures (such as encryption or password protection) to secure the data and the device;
• not to store personal data on local drives or on personal devices that are used for work purposes; and
• to report data breaches of which they become aware to David Price-Evans immediately.
Failing to observe these requirements may amount to a disciplinary offence, which will be dealt with under the organisation’s disciplinary procedure. Significant or deliberate breaches of this policy, such as accessing employee or customer data without authorisation or a legitimate reason to do so, may constitute gross misconduct and could lead to dismissal without notice.
TRAINING
Starfish People Ltd will provide training to all individuals about their data protection responsibilities as part of the induction process and at regular intervals thereafter.
Individuals whose roles require regular access to personal data, or who are responsible for implementing this policy or responding to subject access requests under this policy, will receive additional training to help them understand their duties and how to comply with them.