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Privacy Notice for Job Applicants, Employees and Retirees

Scope of the Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice applies to Caltech's collection, use, processing and retention of personal information of job applicants, current and former employees, including, faculty, staff and postdoctoral scholars, visiting appointments and retirees. Personal information is any information that identifies or can be used to identify an individual (Personal Information). This Privacy Notice contains important information regarding Caltech's privacy practices that apply to your Personal Information. You are expected to read this Privacy Notice in its entirety to understand Caltech's privacy practices in advance of submitting any Personal Information to Caltech or its third parties acting on its behalf. By providing your Personal Information to Caltech, you consent to the collection, processing and retention of your Personal Information consistent with the terms of this Privacy Notice.

Collection of Personal Information

Personal Information may be collected from you in a number of ways, such as part of Caltech's application, hiring, benefits enrollment, and other employment related processes. This may include the collection of Personal Information from third parties, including previous employers, references, and vendors involved in applicant and employment related data collection and processing activities, such as the employment application process and employee onboarding, background checks, benefits enrollment and administration, payroll and tax remittance, and other employment related and general business administration processes.

The Personal Information that may be collected includes but is not limited to:

  • Contact information, such as name, address, email address, phone number, and date of birth;
  • Information relating to education, employment history, and professional certifications;
  • Information collected from other employees or students about you;
  • Information relating to criminal convictions;
  • Photographs;
  • Tax and financial information, such as a government identification number or social security number and bank account information;
  • Health information, such as disability and dietary needs;
  • Demographic information, such as gender, and disability and veteran status;
  • Sensitive information collected with your consent, including racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs related to requests for accommodations, genetic data, biometric data, data concerning health, and sexual information, including orientation;
  • Citizenship and Immigration Information, such as citizenship status, passport number or national identity card details, country of domicile, and nationality; and
  • Dependent and beneficiary information and emergency contacts.

Purposes for which Personal Information Is Collected and Processed

Caltech may use Personal Information it collects from and about you for purposes related to your recruitment and the life cycle of your employment by Caltech, including but not limited to:

  • Recruiting and/or hiring you as an employee at Caltech;
  • Maintaining your employment records;
  • Applying for work visas and employment authorization documents;
  • Assessing your eligibility for employment and/or continued employment;
  • Satisfying legal, regulatory and contractual obligations and responding to legal claims;
  • Providing you with information and technology services, such as computer and email access, library, media, and other information services;
  • Providing you with employee benefits and services, such as:
    • ensuring that employees are receiving the pay or other benefits to which they are entitled
    • providing employee and retiree benefits under Caltech's benefit programs;
    • providing employee support and services, including, disability and other required accommodation, authorized leaves of absence; health and wellbeing services, training and career development;
    • monitoring of equal opportunities;
    • safeguarding and promotion of employees' welfare;
    • ensuring your safety and security;
    • managing the use of social media; and
    • managing facilities on campus, including parking.
  • Administering Caltech finances (i.e. payroll, W-2s, health and other insurance information, etc.); and
  • Providing other administrative functions, such as:
    • ensuring effective general HR and business administration;
    • carrying out research and statistical analysis;
    • carrying out audits (i.e. to ensure compliance with our regulatory and legal obligations);
    • providing operational information (i.e. providing IT support, information about building closures or access restrictions on campus, or safety advice);
    • promoting Caltech events and opportunities (e.g. providing information about events happening on and off campus);
    • preventing and detecting crime;
    • dealing with grievances and disciplinary actions;
    • dealing with complaints and inquiries; and
    • archiving and statistical purposes.
Legal Basis

The legal basis for collecting and processing your information varies based on the circumstances. Caltech has a legitimate interest in collecting and processing Personal Information from applicants, employees and retirees in order to carry out the Institute's activities, consider individuals for employment, and facilitate and fulfill legal and other obligations related to Caltech's employment relationship with its employees and provision of benefits to retirees. We also may process your Personal Information where it is necessary for emergency medical purposes and protecting your or another person's vital interests. Caltech may also elect to obtain an employee's, applicant's or retiree's consent as an additional lawful basis for collecting Personal Information in connection with any of its applicant, employment, retiree or other business related processes. Caltech may process your personal information because it is necessary to the performance of a contract, for example, in connection with contracts with vendors to provide employee and retiree benefits. Caltech also may process your Personal Information to comply with legal obligations or to carry out a task in the public interest.

Recipients of Your Personal Information

For the purposes referred to in this Privacy Notice and relying on the bases for processing as set out above, we may share your Personal Information with certain third parties. In some cases you may be asked to opt in to these data sharing arrangements. In those cases, you should carefully consider the possible impact that not opting in will have. The Third Party Recipients may be:

  • Our affiliates, vendors and other contractors where there is a legitimate reason for their receiving the information, such as third parties who work with us to provide services related to recruitment and employment processes, benefits, work place accommodations, support services (e.g. IT, security, and staffing), and internal and external audits;
  • Those with an interest in tracking employee progress and attendance, such as current or potential education providers and future employers (to provide references and to provide details of attendance); and
  • Professional and regulatory bodies in relation to the confirmation of qualifications, professional registration and conduct, and the accreditation of courses, including:
    • Governmental departments and agencies where we have a legal obligation to provide information;
    • Crime prevention or detection agencies;
    • Next-of-kin where there is a legitimate reason for disclosure; and
    • Third parties conducting surveys.
Data Retention

We will retain your Personal Information for as long as necessary to meet the uses described above and in compliance with legal and business document retention requirements and policies.

Individuals Located in the European Economic Area

Consistent with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, Caltech is providing this Privacy Notice to employees and job applicants who are located within the European Economic Area, which consists of the European Union, Iceland, Norway, and Lichtenstein. Caltech is committed to safeguarding your personal information consistent with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation. If you want more in depth detail about the General Data Protection Regulation, you can read the full text of the EU legislation [PDF].

Some of the Personal Information we process about you will be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area. This happens, for example, where outside the European Economic Area, Personal Information is being processed by our staff, by one of our vendors, by one who works for us or our vendors, or is being stored in storage facilities. In these circumstances, your Personal Information will only be transferred on one of the following bases:

  • Where you have provided explicit consent for the transfer;
  • Where the transfer is occasional and necessary in relation to a contract or a legal claim;
  • Where the transfer is made on the basis of an adequacy decision;
  • Where the transfer is subject to one or more appropriate safeguards for international transfers prescribed by applicable law; and
  • Where the transfer is necessary for the execution of a contract with you or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract.

Employees and job applicants located in the European Economic Area are provided with the following rights:

  • The right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data;
  • The right to access your personal data;
  • The right to object to the processing of your personal data under certain circumstances;
  • The right to rectify any of your personal data that is inaccurate or incomplete;
  • The right to request the deletion of your personal data;
  • The right to restrict or limit the ways in which we process your personal data;
  • The right to transfer or obtain a copy of your personal data in an easily accessible format;
  • The right to withdraw consent;
  • The right to withhold consent to automated individual decision-making processes; and
  • The right to complain to a supervisory authority.

Please note that the above rights are not absolute. Caltech may be entitled to refuse requests where certain exceptions apply. Even where you have exercised one of the rights listed above with respect to your Personal Information, we may have the right to retain your Personal Information for various purposes, including compliance with legal obligations, for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, for archiving purposes in the public interest, for scientific or historical research purposes, for statistical purposes, or for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.

To submit a request, please send an email message to [email protected].

Contact Information

Questions regarding this Privacy Notice should be referred to Caltech's Privacy Manager and Director of Compliance, Tye Welch, who may be contacted at (626) 395-8633 or [email protected].

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