The 3rdDegree Ltd
PRIVACY POLICY
1.0 Introduction
1.1. At The 3rd Degree we take your privacy seriously. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you of how we manage your personal information when you interact with us, as a Client or potential customer of The 3rd Degree. If you are an applicant, employee or staff member who is/will be subject to verification checks, then your prospective employer/current employer, landlord’s Privacy Policy will apply.
1.2. The 3rd Degree refers to the background checking services provided by The 3rd Degree Ltd.
1.3. We are bound by this Privacy Policy and the requirements of the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020, which regulates how we may collect, use, disclose, and store personal information, as well as how individuals may exercise their rights or options regarding the personal information held about them.
1.4. The Client is the commercial client of The 3rd Degree and is always referred to as the Client.
1.5. The Applicant is the prospective employee or applicant for a role.
2.0 Changes to this Notice
2.1. This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically. We advise you to check back frequently to see any updates or changes. The latest version and publication date will always be clearly marked.
WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
3.0 We collect commercial and personal information:
4.0 As part of opening an account
4.1. We collect the Client’s full name, type of business, role, contact phone number and email address (“Contact Information”).
4.2. We collect the full legal name of the prospective employee or applicant, place of birth, physical and postal addresses, telephone numbers, the type of entity and the nature of the business that the applicant is associated with.
5.0 To create an account
5.1. We collect your name, email address and phone number and company or organisation’s name and commercial information.
5.2. We collect an array of information on your prospective employee or Applicant, inclusive of identity, proof of identity, proof of address, credit information when applicable, criminal history if applicable, driver’s license status when applicable, and all information for vetting when applicable as defined under the Children’s Act 2014.
6.0 As part of delivering services and managing the service relationship
6.1. We collect the contact information of staff members who are involved in the service relationship.
7.0 Contact us via telephone
7.1. We collect your contact information, and the contents of the conversation, which may be recorded.
8.0 Contact us via email, webform or post
8.1. We collect:
a. your email address and any contact information provided. We will also collect the contents of youremail.
b. any contact information provided, along with the contents of your webform query.
c. any contact information provided, along with the contents of your letter.
9.0 Visit, search for and browse our websites and self-service portals
9.1. We collect the internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer or device to the internet, your login information, data on your screen settings and device settings, such as the point and scroll settings of your mouse, web browser type and version, time zone settings, and operating system information.
9.2. We also collect information about your use or visit, including statistical information about visits to pages on the site, the products and services you viewed or searched for, page response times, duration of individual page view, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks and mouse-overs) and the paths taken by you through the site, plus the full uniform resource locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time).
WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO OTHERS COLLECT?
10.0 If you use our services (e.g., browsing our website) whilst logged into the following services, then they will collect information about your browsing as detailed in their privacy policies.
10.6 YouTube
11.0 We use Google Analytics to collect information about your browsing habits whilst using our services. As detailed within Google’s Privacy Policy, Google may share this information publicly and with their partners.
12.0 The information Google Analytics collects includes:
12.7. the type of web browser you use (e.g., Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox).
USE OF COOKIES
13.0 A cookie is a piece of code that creates a file on your computer to track the pages that you view on our website. You may turn off cookies at any time. Most browsers have a feature that allows the user to refuse cookies, or issues a warning when cookies are being sent. However, turning off cookies may affect your ability to use some components of our sites.
14.0 A cookie is a string of letters and numbers that uniquely identify the computer you are using as well as the username and password you may have used to register at the site.
15.0 There are two types of cookies used:
15.1. The first type of cookie checks the way that visitors use our site. These cookies help us to understand which pages are of the most interest to our users and the way that users move through our site. This type of cookie is anonymised and does not report any information that could personally identify any user, including yourself. The resulting data gives us an aggregated view and an overall behaviour of all visitors but does not let us know what any single user does
15.2. The second type of cookie exists only for the time you are logged onto our site. These cookies are used by our software and application to create a secure user session when you are logged into our site using your username and password so that you can navigate around the secure areas of the site without the need for you to re-enter security information.
16.0 Some of the cookies are owned by The 3rd Degree, some are owned by third party service providers that we use in operating our site. Most browsers can be configured to refuse or to accept such cookies. You can also delete cookies from your hard drive. However, doing so may hinder your access to important areas of information within our site.
WHY DO WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
17.0 We collect and use your personal information for a variety of purposes including:
17.1. Processing an account application;
17.2. Enabling the purchase of products and services from us, to process your orders, obtain payment and to recover debt owed to us;
17.3. Answering queries and providing customer service;
17.4. Maintaining and developing our business systems, processes, and infrastructure, including testing, and upgrading of these systems, route planning, product or service development, research, and quality control;
17.5. Keeping staff and visitors safe while on our premises, and to monitor access to secure areas within our premises;
17.6. Administering our websites for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, security, statistical and survey purposes;
17.7. Providing information about products and services across The 3rd Degree
17.8. Undertaking research to understand our customers, and make improvements to our products, services, purchasing and customer support processes;
17.9. Measuring or understanding the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you;
17.10. Investigating, assessing, and responding to any claims;
17.11. Meeting our various legal and contractual obligations;
17.12. Managing and resolving any legal or commercial complaints and issues;
17.13. Carrying out any activity in connection with a legal, governmental, regulatory requirement, or in connection with legal proceedings, crime or fraud prevention, detection, or prosecution.
18.0 If you choose not to provide certain personal information you should be aware that we may not be able to provide you with products and services.
19.0 We may send you marketing or promotional communications about our products, services, or brand. If you do not wish to receive such communications, please contact us and we will respect your request and cease future communications.
20.0 Legal
20.1. The 3rd Degree, inclusive of its variations and domains are the intellectual property of The 3rd Degree Ltd.
20.2. The 3rd Degree is the trade name owned by The 3rd Degree Ltd.
20.3. For all purposes the Client of The 3rd Degree is the party in which services are provided to, being the Applicant and Client.
20.4. The Parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the laws of New Zealand.
WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH?
21.0 We use a number of organisations within The 3rd Degree, as well as organisations outside The 3rd Degree to enable the provision of services to you. Personal information may be provided to these organisations as part of delivery of the services. These organisations are contractually required to only use your information for the purpose of supporting the services that we provide to you.
22.0 Information may also be disclosed to:
22.1. Other entities within The 3rd Degree in order to optimize the design and delivery of products and services across The 3rd Degree. You can find out more information about entities within The 3rd Degree here;
22.2. People who you specifically request we share your personal information with;
22.3. Candidates in order to inform them of your request to complete checks;
22.4. The prospective seller or buyer in the event that we buy, sell, re-organise, merge or dissolve businesses or assets;
22.5. Law enforcement, regulatory bodies, legal advisors, or similar third parties where we are under a legal duty to disclose or share personal information in order to comply with a legal obligation;
22.6. Enforce or apply our website terms and conditions and other agreements; and
22.7. Protect our rights, property, or safety of our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
23.0 We do not disclose your personal information to any third party other than those described previously or when we are legally required to do so.
24.0 Third Party Suppliers but not limited to providers of criminal checks, law enforcement agencies, regulatory and licensing bodies, credit agencies, education providers, professional organisations, or in compliance with the Children’s Act the New Zealand Police.
OVERSEAS INFORMATION
25.0 In order to conduct a check or verify references it may be necessary to disclose some of your personal information to an entity overseas that will verify the accuracy of your information. For such a check to be provided to another country that entity may need to be provided with personal information in order for them to verify your information.
SECURITY
26.0 Our systems and process are engineered in order to maintain security at all levels with managerial oversight from the executives down. Our security and technology protocols combined with privacy policy defines all security measures and responsibilities for all operational matters and protective measures.
STAFF TRAINING
27.0 The 3rd Degree stringently maintains privacy and security and embeds the same in our culture. We train our staff with security and privacy awareness as a cornerstone in order to keep your information safe and secure.
PHYSICAL SECURITY
28.0 We stringently control access to secure areas, electronic documents, and secure documents disposal. We use a mix of digital technologies in order to prevent unauthorised access.
PLATFORM SECURITY SYSTEMS
29.0 Files and database systems are automatically encrypted.
30.0 All access is dual authentication.
31.0 We operate firewalls and site monitoring in order to block illegal traffic.
32.0 A unique and critical factor is that we automatically delete all sensitive data after 21 days.
ACCESS AND UPDATING OR CORRECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION
33.0 You have a right to access your personal information held by The 3rd Degree. There is no charge to submit a request to see your information. We will provide you with such information including name, address, contact details. If you believe this information is incorrect or out of date you may of course ask us to correct that information. Please note that in giving you information, we believe to be an accurate record of the information provided by the source. If you believe the source information was inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading, you may need to take that up directly with the source.
IS THERE A FEE?
34.0 Generally, there will not be a fee for such requests. However, we may need to charge you a small administrator fee to cover our costs if you want to access more detailed information and we spend time finding or putting together the information that you have requested, or providing you with copies of the same. In the event there is going to be a fee we will let you know in advance, such as rates for photocopying or expenses that may be incurred to provide you with such information.
HOW DO WE SECURE YOUR INFORMATION?
35.0 Your personal information is held in a controlled and secure environment. We use appropriate technical, organizational, and administrative security measures to protect any information we hold from loss, misuse, and unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. Among other practices, accounts are protected by a password for your privacy and security.
36.0 We use various technologies on our websites to appropriately secure transactions and process online orders. You should, however, be aware that there is always an inherent risk in transmitting personal information via the Internet.
HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?
37.0 We only keep your information for as long as it is required. We will keep your information:
37.1. Until we no longer have a valid reason for keeping it; or
37.2. For as long as required by law e.g., we keep invoice information for 7 years to fulfil our tax obligations.
37.3. Whilst we may keep commercial information as required by law, we are provided with the absolute right and authority to delete all Applicant information.
37.4. Both the Client and Applicant confirm and request that the Applicant’s data will automatically be deleted after 21-days, other than Name, Address and Date of Birth.
HAVE A QUESTION OR CONCERN, OR WOULD LIKE A COPY OF THE INFORMATION THAT WE HOLD ABOUT YOU?
38.0 If you have any questions or concerns or would like to exercise your right to obtain a copy of the information that we hold about you (or to have this information corrected), please get in contact with us directly at admin@the3rddegree.co.nz
39.0 Alternatively, you can contact The 3rd Degree Privacy Officer via:
Email: admin@the3rddegree.co.nz or
Wellington 6140
40.0 If you consider your query or privacy concerns have not been resolved satisfactorily by us, or you wish to obtain more information on privacy requirements, you can contact the New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner via their website www.privacy.org.nz or free phone at 0800 803 909.
41.0 Further information about how to lodge a complaint is available on the Privacy Commissioner’s website.
Published August 2024