Privacy Policy
1. PURPOSE
2.1
WSCLC is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of personal information of all clients, Team Members, and stakeholders. WSCLC complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles in how we collect, use, hold, and disclose personal information. All individuals have interests and associated protections for the privacy of their personal information including under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) [‘Privacy Act’]. All stakeholders can expect their personal information to be handled by WSCLC in accordance with this privacy policy.
3. SCOPE
3.1
This policy applies to all persons connected with WSCLC.
4. PRINCIPLES
4.1
PERSONAL INFORMATION AND COLLECTION
Personal information is any information which identifies you or may reasonably identify you, and includes sensitive information such as information about your health [‘health information’].
Generally, WSCLC will usually collect the following kinds of personal information about you:
- name and contact details (e.g. telephone number, email address);
- date of birth;
- the reason why you are seeking our services (e.g. domestic violence, criminal charge);
- health information;
- personal information forming part of any applications for work that you make to WSCLC, associated screenings and related documentation (e.g. contractor agreement);
- details of financial and other personal interests held by prospective or actual Workers and their immediate family members to WSCLC for the purpose of managing perceived or potential conflicts of interest;
- country of birth and/or language spoken at home;
- income level and source of income;
- family type;
- gender and sexuality;
- criminal history;
- where you reside including whether your residence is located in a regional, rural or remote area;
- status as a refugee and/or new migrant;
- copies of ID documents and other government identifiers (e.g. TFN);
- payment information necessary for our engagement with you (e.g. to facilitate payment of salary/wages or compensation recovered for you as part of our services); and
- any other personal information necessary to provide our services to you.
Please note that WSCLC will also collect personal information about any person involved in any dispute, claim or advice that we are assisting you with (e.g. perpetrator of domestic violence or police officer you might have dealt with).
WSCLC may collect personal information either directly from you, or from third parties including:
- by you engaging with us through Workers, our website or business associates (e.g. legal practitioners or social workers who might refer you to us for our services); and
- when your personal information is otherwise obtained by us in the course of providing you with our services or responding to an enquiry or request for information that you have made.
When you apply to work with us, WSCLC may also collect information about you from third parties such as from recruitment consultants, former employers and other persons who might be able to provide information to assist us to decide whether or not to make you an offer of employment or engage with you under a contract.
Where possible, individuals may choose to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym when contacting WSCLC (for example, when making general inquiries or seeking information). However, for WSCLC to provide legal or client services, we usually require certain identifying information. We will inform you when personal details are needed so we can check for conflicts of interest or fulfil our legal duties.
4.2
WHY AND HOW WE COLLECT, USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
WSCLC may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for any of the following purposes:
- to enable us to provide you with our services, including by assessing whether or not you are eligible for our programs;
- to respond to enquiries, or other requests for information that you might make of us;
- to develop our services to better serve the community, for example, by performing analytics on your use of our website and auditing our business practices;
- to compile statistics as required by our funding bodies (although WSCLC will generally seek to use/disclose anonymised information instead);
- to inform you about our services, events and any offerings from our organisation partners that we think might be of interest to you (although you may opt-out of receiving these kinds of communications by using the contact details below or by following the opt-out instructions that will be provided to you in our communications);
- to consider any application you make to work with us; and
- to comply with our legal obligations.
WSCLC may disclose your personal information, for any of the above purposes, to:
- Workers who will provide you with our services (noting that these persons will be subject to confidentiality obligations to protect your personal information);
- any legal advisers that we may engage to act for us in relation to any actual or threatened legal action against us, or request for information from us by any person;
- to an insurer in relation to any claim made by you or in relation to you; or
- as otherwise required, authorised or permitted by law.
WSCLC will only collect sensitive information (such as health or criminal record data) if you consent or if required or authorised by law. Your sensitive information such as health information will usually only be disclosed to third parties if you provide us with your consent to do so.
We may also use de-identified information about you for other purposes such as to provide training to our Team Members.
If you choose not to provide some or all of the personal information requested, we may not be able to provide appropriate services to you, or there may be delays or limitations in assisting you, given our need for certain information to deliver effective legal and support services.
WSCLC does not typically disclose your personal information to overseas recipients. In the unlikely event personal information needs to be transferred outside Australia (for example, using a secure international service provider), WSCLC will take steps to ensure the recipient protects your information as required by Australian privacy law or obtain your consent, in accordance with the Privacy Act.
4.3
AUTOMATED DECISION MAKING AND USE OF AI
WSCLC may use computer programs to make or assist with decisions that might affect your rights or interests. These decisions include evaluation of eligibility for programs. In all cases, no decision affecting your rights or access to services is made solely by a computer – we have our Team Members oversee and review any automated assessments to ensure they are fair and accurate.
WSCLC may use and disclose the kinds of personal information mentioned in this Policy in the operation of these computer programs.
WSCLC may use automated tools to help match clients to appropriate programs or tailor services (for instance, a computer system might help determine your initial eligibility for a service). We use these tools to improve efficiency, but we review their outcomes to ensure they remain fair and accurate.
Your personal information may be disclosed to service providers that we engage to provide us with and conduct AI, and other persons involved in our use of this kind of technology including developers or owners of the technology.
4.4
HOLDING PERSONAL INFORMATION
Personal information will be held and stored by us securely in electronic databases/servers and in physical form.
WSCLC strives to ensure the security of personal information that we handle and will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Some measures that we use to ensure that personal information is kept secure includes strict access controls and encryption of files.
WSCLC will retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy (or as required by law or our funding agreements). When personal information is no longer needed, we will take reasonable steps to securely destroy or permanently de-identify it, in accordance with our Records Management policies and legal requirements.
4.5
REQUESTS FOR ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION
You can access the personal information WSCLC holds about you at no cost by contacting us using the below contact details.
Sometimes, WSCLC may not be able to provide you with access to all of your personal information and where this is the case, we will tell you why.
If you think that any personal information that WSCLC holds about you is inaccurate, you can also contact us and request that this information be corrected using the below contact details.
Requests can be made in writing via email to our Privacy Officer (see contact details below). If you cannot make a written request, you may speak to any WSCLC Team Member, who will forward your request to our Privacy Officer for action.
We will respond to your access or correction request in writing within a reasonable time, advising of the outcome, including any information we can provide or corrections made, or if we must refuse your request, the reasons for refusal and how you can complain if you are not satisfied.
4.6
MAKING A COMPLAINT AND CONTACTING US
If you think WSCLC has breached the Privacy Act, or you wish to contact us including to make a complaint about the way we have handled your personal information, you can contact us at:
Privacy Officer (Office Manager)
WSCLC
[email protected]
Please include your name, email address and/or telephone number and clearly describe your complaint. WSCLC will acknowledge your complaint and respond to you regarding your complaint within a reasonable period of time.
If you cannot lodge a written complaint (for example, due to accessibility needs), you may speak to any WSCLC staff member, who will relay your concerns to the Privacy Officer.
All privacy questions or complaints will be treated confidentially and dealt with impartially. If you think that WSCLC has failed to handle your complaint satisfactorily, we will provide you with information about the further steps you can take.
If you feel we haven’t resolved your privacy concern, we will provide information on how to escalate your complaint, such as contacting the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). The OAIC can be reached at 1300 363 992 or [email protected], and more information is available at www.oaic.gov.au.
More information about your rights and our obligations in relation to privacy, and information on making a privacy complaint are available from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, which can be contacted at www.oaic.gov.au, or by post to GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001, or by email to [email protected].
