Data privacy for applicants

FOX WILLIAMS LLP provides this Data Privacy Notice to make applicants for roles with us aware of our policy relating to the processing of their personal data.

This Notice sets out what personal data we will collect about you and the basis on which we will process it. It does not and will not form part of any contract that you may enter into with us. Please read the Notice carefully to understand our practices regarding your personal data and how we will use it.

About us

We are FOX WILLIAMS LLP (a limited liability partnership incorporated under the laws of England and Wales with registered number OC320160 and having its registered office 10 Finsbury Square, London EC2A 1AF).

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) under registration number Z9541811.

References in this Notice to the firm mean Fox Williams LLP (“FW“, “we“, “us“, “our“).

Contacting us:

If you have any questions about this Notice or your personal data, or wish to exercise any of your rights as described in this Notice or under applicable legislation, you can contact us at:

Privacy Manager
Fox Williams LLP
10 Finsbury Square
London EC2A 1AF

By email: privacy@foxwilliams.com

By telephone: +44 (0) 207 628 2000

Communication

Whilst processing your application we may contact you by email, SMS, telephone or post.

WHAT TYPES OF DATA ARE PROTECTED

Personal data

This Notice applies to the “personal data” of job applicants, i.e. any information relating to a job applicant as an identified or identifiable person. This data is referred to in this Notice as “Information“).

Special categories of personal data

Within the broad range of Information, the following are “special categories of personal data” which are subject to a greater degree of protection, namely information about a job applicant’s:

• physical or mental health;
• racial or ethnic origin;
• political opinions;
• trade union membership;
• religious or similar beliefs;
• sex life or sexual orientation; and
• genetic and biometric data.

What information we collect

We ask for Information from job applicants in order to assist with our recruitment processes, to monitor recruitment statistics and to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. This Information may be stored electronically or as part of a paper filing system.

We collect, store and use the following Information:

• Your name, contact details (i.e. address, home and mobile phone numbers, email address) and emergency contacts (i.e. name, relationship and home and mobile phone numbers);
• Your date of birth;
• Your gender;
• Details of your next-of-kin, spouse/partner and any dependants;
• Information given in your CV and other information collected during the recruitment process (including but not limited to application forms and references received);
• Copies of your passport, driving licence and similar documents;
• Details of your education history, qualifications, training and professional experience;
• Current and past employment, or other working arrangements, details;
• Employment, or other working arrangements, contract information;
• Details of salary and benefits including health insurance, payroll-related information, including bank/building society, National Insurance and tax information;
• Your nationality and immigration status and information from related documents, such as work permits;
• Languages spoken and level of proficiency;
• Details of your referees; and
• Other information given in your CV.

Special categories of (sensitive) personal data

We may also collect, store and use the following special categories of personal data which you supply us with:

• Information about your racial or ethnic origin, sex life and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs; and
• Information concerning your physical and mental health.

We may also collect, store and use Information about criminal convictions and offences.

We will use this Information for the purposes of carrying out our obligations as a prospective employer including monitoring of equality of opportunity, to assess suitability for particular jobs, to consider whether adjustments may need to be made to accommodate an applicant with a disability or in connection with establishing, defending and bringing legal claims.

How we collect the information

We may collect this information from you when you fill in forms on or through our website, in interview or when you correspond with the firm by phone, email, in person, or otherwise.

Information may be provided to us by recruitment agencies with which you have registered an interest, or by your referees (details of whom you will have provided to us).

We may receive Information about you from organisations such as your education provider, the Law Society, the SRA, and credit reference agencies.

We may also collect and receive Information which is in the public domain, or from external sources, such as those that are commercially available to us, and from organisations such as credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies.

During the recruitment process we may also research Information regarding your skills, experience or qualifications and information in the public domain including comments and opinions made public on social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Automated decision-making

We do not envisage that any decisions will be taken about you using automated means.

What we do with your INFORMATION

Any Information about you which is obtained by us during the application process (whether obtained directly from you or from third parties) may be stored and used by us for purposes including but not limited to:

• considering your suitability for employment, engagement or membership;
• taking up your references;
• conducting appropriate background and other checks;
• complying with our legal obligations;
• negotiating and communicating with you in relation to your application and the terms of any offer that may be made to you; and
• in connection with any legal issues.

Your Information will not be used for other purposes without reference back to you, save as required by applicable law.

The legal basis for our processing

We collect and use this Information for the following purposes:

• to take steps to enter into a contract;
• for compliance with a legal obligation;
• for the purposes of our legitimate interests or those of a relevant third party (such as a benefits provider), but only if these are not overridden by your interests, rights or freedoms
• because it is necessary for carrying out obligations or exercising rights in employment law; and
• for reasons of substantial public interest (preventing or detecting unlawful acts).

The legal basis for our processing of any special categories of personal data is for the purposes of carrying out our legal obligations as a prospective employer or, where necessary, for establishing, defending and bringing legal claims.

Sharing your data

For the purposes set out in “What we do with your data” above, your data may be shared with our partners and authorised staff.

We may disclose your data to departments other than the one to which you may have originally applied to work if we think it is appropriate to do so for the above purposes.

We may share Information with:

• Globe Business Publishing Limited (“AllHires”), the provider of our online applicant tracking and recruitment system;
• professional advisors (including lawyers, accountants, auditors, insurers and brokers);
• referees and the providers of background and other checks.

We may be required to share some Information as required to comply with any legal or regulatory obligation. For example, as part of our obligations to the SRA, we are obliged to provide certain personal data to the SRA from time to time. The firm may also need to disclose Information for professional regulatory and professional indemnity purposes. Information may also be passed to third parties to comply with the law or assist in a criminal investigation. We only provide this Information where it is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations or where we consider it is in the firm’s legitimate interest to do so.

The firm may also disclose Information to third parties where we consider it is in the firm’s legitimate interest to do so including in the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, or outsource any service or activity, in which case we may disclose Information to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets, or the prospective provider. Where possible the Information will be anonymised. We will ensure that the recipient of the Information is bound by confidentiality obligations.

Save as set out in this Notice, or as required by law or a legal or regulatory authority, the firm does not sell Information or disclose it to any third parties without the consent of the relevant member of staff.

Security of information

We are committed to ensuring that your Information is safe and will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that such Information is treated securely and in accordance with this Notice.

We limit access to your Information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your Information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

Unfortunately the transmission of Information over the internet is not completely secure. Although the firm will do its best to protect Information, it cannot guarantee the security of Information transmitted over the internet.

How long we keep information

If your application is successful, and you subsequently become employed or engaged by us, the data will become part of your personnel file and will be used in accordance with our employee Data Privacy Statement, a copy of which will be provided or made available to you.

Once your employment, engagement or membership with us has ended, we will retain your Information in accordance with our Data Retention Policy from time to time in force.

Information about unsuccessful candidates or candidates who withdraw their application will be held for 18 months from submission to us of the application.

Information about candidates whose application is not specifically marked as successful, withdrawn or unsuccessful will be held for 12 months from submission to us of the application.

If we ask to keep hold of your Information (for example) to consider you for future roles or to continue to send you job alerts, your Information will be held for 30 days following the request to keep your Information or, if you agree, we will retain your Information as long as agreed with you.

At the end of the applicable period, so far as reasonably practicable your Information will then be destroyed or deleted.

We may retain de-personalised statistical information about applicants to help inform our recruitment activities, but no individuals are identifiable from that data.

Your rights in connection with your information

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.

Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).

Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.

Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.

Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.

Exercising your rights

You can exercise any of the rights described in this Notice and under data protection laws by contacting our HR Department or the Privacy Manager.

Save as described in this Notice or provided under data protection laws, there is no charge for the exercise of your legal rights. However, if any requests are manifestly unfounded or excessive, in particular because of their repetitive character, we may either (a) charge a reasonable fee taking into account the administrative costs of providing the Information or taking the action requested or (b) refuse to act on the request.

Where the firm has reasonable doubts concerning the identity of the person making the request, we may request additional information necessary to confirm your identity.

International transfers

We do not transfer your Information outside the UK or EEA. If any such transfer should occur we shall take all steps reasonably necessary to put in place appropriate safeguards for your Information in accordance with applicable law.

Complaints

If you have any query or concern about our use of your Information, please contact our HR Department or our Privacy Manager.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office about our data processing activities in relation to your personal data if you think they infringe applicable data protection laws. The ICO has a dedicated helpline at 0303 123 1113.

Updates to this Notice

We may amend or withdraw this Notice at any time at our sole and absolute discretion. It will not form part of any contractual documentation that we may enter into with you.