Davis Martindale LLP Privacy Policy

Davis Martindale LLP respects the privacy rights of our clients, as well as our partners and employees and has always been committed to protecting all personal information in our possession or control. We have adopted this Privacy Policy to guide how we collect, use and disclose the personal information we require in the course of fulfilling our professional responsibilities and operating our business. This Privacy Policy applies to all subsidiaries and affiliates of Davis Martindale LLP. References to “DM” in this Policy include all such subsidiaries and affiliates.

While DM has always taken the privacy and confidentiality of our clients and our partners and employees very seriously, we have developed this Privacy Policy to clearly define our ongoing commitment to protecting privacy rights. Certain of the practices discussed in the Policy reflect requirements set out in both federal and provincial privacy legislation that came into effect on January 1, 2004. Our goal is to respond to the requirements of the law, and to be responsive to our clients, as well as partners and employees who expect us to demonstrate our commitment to respecting their privacy and protecting their personal information.

Principle 1 – We Are Accountable For The Personal Information In Our Possession.

DM is accountable for all personal information in our possession or control. This includes any personal information that we receive directly, for example, from individual clients, partners and employees, as well as individuals’ personal information that we may receive indirectly, for example, through corporate and government clients. We have established policies and procedures aimed at protecting personal information. We have appointed a Privacy Officer to oversee privacy issues for DM. We have also educated our partners and employees about our Privacy Policy and their role in protecting your personal information. If you have questions about our privacy practices, we invite you to contact our Privacy Officer at privacyofficer@davismartindale.com or at 1-519-673-3141.

Principle 2 – DM will inform you why we are collecting your personal information when the information is collected.

Client Information

In most instances, DM will collect, use or disclose personal information only to provide professional services to you. Each engagement letter, by reference to our privacy policy, includes an explanation of why we require information, what use will be made of it and with whom it may be shared in order to provide our professional services.

Your personal information may be disclosed internally and with other member firms of DM for the purpose of determining compliance with applicable professional standards, DM internal policies, or in the performance of quality reviews. Personal Information may also be shared internally in order to allow us to offer services or products that may be of interest to you.

In accordance with professional standards, if you are an audit or attest client, personal information may be shared with the DM audit or attest engagement team and other DM personnel so that it may be used in the audit or attest engagement.

Employee Information

We also collect personal information from our partners and employees in order to pay them, comply with laws, provide them with benefits, administer performance management tools such as “Dialogue” and to improve on programs, policies and employee relations. In certain cases, we may also aggregate partner and employee personal information to provide business metrics and evaluate the effectiveness of our HR programs. In these circumstances, the information is not identifiable with any individual.

We also collect personal information from individuals seeking employment with DM.

When we collect personal information, we inform you of the reasons why we require such information, what use will be made of it and with whom it may be shared.

Principle 3 – DM will collect, use or disclose personal information about you only with your informed consent.

How Will We Ask for Consent?

Client Personal Information

The Terms and Conditions of every professional services engagement are documented in each Engagement Letter. These Terms and Conditions include a discussion about how DM may use and disclose your personal information. By signing the engagement letter, you will be providing your consent to the collection, use and disclosure described in the Terms and Conditions.

Partner and Employee Information

Forms and applications used to provide human resources-related services to partners and employees will describe the purposes for which personal information is required and with whom it will be shared, and will allow for you to consent to the collection, use and disclosure as described.

Employment candidates will also be advised of the purposes for which their personal information is being collected and you will be provided an opportunity to consent to the collection, use and disclosure as described.

What happens if you choose not to give us your consent? What if you withdraw your consent at a later date?

You always have the option not to provide your consent to the collection, use and distribution of your personal information, or to withdraw your consent at a later stage. Where a client chooses not to provide us with permission to collect, use or disclose personal information, we may not have sufficient information to provide you with our services. Where a partner, employee or candidate for employment chooses not to provide us with permission to collect, use or disclose personal information we may not be able to employ you or to provide you with benefits.

Principle 4 – DM  limits the amount and type of personal information we collect.

We will limit, where possible, the collection of client and employee personal information to that which is required to provide our services or operate our business.

Such personal information we might collect could include:

Client Information

·          home addresses

·          home telephone numbers including unlisted

·          personal identification numbers (e.g., social insurance numbers, credit card numbers)

·          all or part of your financial circumstances

·          personnel information (e.g., employment history, references to criminal records)

·          information linked to the type of client, for example:

§                      information in medical records (with respect to organizations such as hospitals or medical practices)

§                      information related to race, religion, sexual preference, receipt of welfare or subsidized housing (with respect to various types of not-for-profit and government entities)

§                      source data in claims and in-force databases (with respect to insurance companies)

§                      tenant information (with respect to residential leasing companies).

·          Medical advisors

·          Circumstances and state of living arrangements          

·          Dependents

·          Insurance agent

·          Bankers/financial advisors

·          Lawyers

·          Other accountants

·          Trade union affiliation

·          Business interests

·          Beneficiary information/instructions after death

·          Impending financial transactions           

·          Information contained in wills

 

Partner and Employee;  Application and New Hire Information

As soon as you are hired, DM begins keeping your personnel file. Examples of some of the information your file might contain include the following:

·          resume and/or application;

·          letters of offer and acceptance of employment;

·          written employment contract;

·          payroll information, including social security number, banking information;

·          wage and benefit information;

·          forms relating to application for employee benefits, such as short and long term disability, medical and dental care;

·          emergency contact information.

 

Most of the information listed above is required to ensure you are properly identified as an employee of DM and that you are on the payroll. Emergency contact information is required in case we need to notify anyone of your involvement in an emergency situation while at work.

 

 

Performance Information

While employed with DM, you will be periodically evaluated (at least annually), and changes to your employment status may occur. For example, you may receive salary increases and promotions, and may become a partner of the firm. You may also complete internal or outside courses. All of this information is collected and maintained so that DM can properly evaluate your performance, determine appropriate levels of compensation, and make decisions about your future as staff member or partner of the firm.

 

Examples of performance information that may be added to your personnel file include:

·          copies of performance appraisals;

·          core course and mandatory policy sign-off sheets;

·          internal communications regarding performance;

·          corrective action forms or information;

·          memorandums regarding completion of internal and outside courses;

·          record of absences from work.

 

Personality/Psychological Profiles

Some screening and profile testing may be done to evaluate the potential for an employee’s promotion, or to assess whether the employee or partner would work well with a particular group or team within the firm. The information is also used to determine whether an employee or partner has the appropriate skills or traits to perform a particular job.

 

Computer and E-mail Access

DM has the capability to monitor all partners’ and employees’ computer and e-mail use. Partners and employees should understand all equipment provided for partner or employee use at work is considered to be the property of DM, and is intended for partners’ or employees’ use within the workplace, and not for personal use. As a result, it is possible that your e-mail and computer usage will be monitored. In light of its commitment to an appropriate workplace, DM wants to ensure that no inappropriate computer and Internet usage occurs.

 

Disclosure of Personal Information

Your personnel file is securely maintained in the firm’s personnel files. DM shares your personal information only with those partners and staff members of DM who need it to ensure that you are properly compensated, or those who are involved in your hiring, promotion, discipline or termination. Personal information in document form is kept in secure locked offices, and computer information is maintained in secure files with very limited access. We will also commit to maintaining your privacy when personal information is disclosed to third parties (e.g., for payroll processing)

 

Retention of Personal Information

Your personal information will be maintained in your personnel file for as long as you are an employee or partner of the firm. Some of the information relating to payroll and compensation must be maintained for seven years after you leave your employment or partnership, as these documents are required by law for audit and taxation purposes. Information that is not necessary for audit and taxation purposes is destroyed two years after your last date of employment or partner status.

 

Accuracy of Personal Information

To some extent, DM relies on our partners and employees to update their own personal information. For example, if you have had a change of address or telephone number, marital status, or if you wish to make changes to your benefits plan, you should approach the appropriate administration staff member and request that your file be updated. Unless you advise DM of these important changes, DM has no way of knowing about them.

 

DM recognizes that the information we collect regarding your performance is based on opinion and evaluation. To the best of our ability, we ensure that the performance portion of your personnel file is complete, in that it contains all information related to your performance, including any documents or other information you supply to us on your own behalf.

 

DM has adopted a procedure allowing partners and employees to challenge the accuracy of their personal information where they feel it is necessary. That procedure is described below under the heading “Access to Personal Information.”

 

Access to Personal Information

DM is committed to ensuring that we collect only the personal information about you that we need to ensure an effective employment or partnership relationship. DM is also committed to ensuring that information about you is accurate and up-to-date. DM will provide you with the information we have about you when you make a written request.

 

In some cases, DM may not be able to provide you with all the information we have about you. This would occur if provision of the information could lead to disclosure of another individual’s personal information, where laws or regulations prevent disclosure, or where it would simply be too costly to provide the information. If we decide not to disclose some or all of your personal information to you, we will advise you of the reason.

 

In order to ensure compliance with our privacy policy, DM has appointed a Privacy Officer to oversee all aspects of its partner and employee privacy policy and practices. If you wish to know what information DM currently has about you, you should send a written request to the Privacy Officer, who will respond to your request within 30 days. If you become aware that the information we have about you is incorrect, you should notify the Privacy Officer, who will review the information and take appropriate steps to address your concerns.

 

DM does not provide information to third parties or potential employers unless you provide us with a signed letter authorizing us to do so.

 

 

Principle 5 – DM will use and disclose your personal information only for the purposes for which we have your consent. We will keep personal information only as long as necessary to accomplish these purposes.

Use of Personal Information

If we intend to use your personal information for a purpose not previously identified to you, we will obtain your prior consent.

However, we may use personal information without consent where for the purpose of acting in respect of an emergency that threatens the life, health or security of an individual. We may also disclose personal information without consent:

Retention of Personal Information

In compliance with professional standards, we keep a record of the work performed by us. This record, or “working papers” may include personal information. Working papers are safeguarded against inappropriate access, as discussed under Principle “7”.

DM retains personal information about current and past partners and employees in accordance with employment laws and standards. We are currently undertaking a project to destroy unnecessary HR files containing personal information. Certain additional information may be retained to administer and keep you informed about our Alumni Program; however, you are free at any time to ask that you not be contacted.

Personal information collected from individuals seeking employment with DM will be retained by DM indefinitely so that DM may contact you about other positions that may also be of interest to you.

Principle 6 – DM will endeavor to keep accurate the personal information in our possession or control.

In order to provide you with a professional level of service and with appropriate benefits, the personal information that we collect about you must be accurate, complete and current. From time to time, you may be asked to update your personal information. You are encouraged to advise us of any changes to your personal information that may be relevant to the services we are providing to you.

Clients are encouraged to contact their engagement partner to update their personal information.

Employees and candidates should contact the Office Manger should they need to update their personal information.

Principle 7 – DM protects your personal information with safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.

We protect your personal information by using physically secure facilities, industry standard security tools and practices, and clearly defined internal policies and practices. Security measures are in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. Personal information collected is stored in secure operating environments that are not available to the public (e.g., restricted access premises, or locked rooms and filing cabinets). To prevent unauthorized electronic access to personal information, we maintain information collected in a secure environment.

Principle 8 – DM will be open about the procedures used to manage your personal information.

The most up-to-date version of our privacy policy is available in its entirety at www.davismartindale.comor by contacting our Privacy Officer at privacyofficer@davismartindale.com or at 1-519-673-3141.

Principle 9 – At your request, DM will advise you of what personal information we have in our possession or control about you, what it is being used for, and to whom and why it has been disclosed.

As a client, you have the right to review and obtain a copy of your personal information on record in our individual offices by contacting your engagement partner.

As a partner or employee, you also have the right to review and obtain copies of your personal information on record by contacting the Office Manager.

In most instances, you will receive a response to your request within 30 days. If you have any concerns about the access provided to you, you are encouraged to contact our Privacy Officer at privacyofficer@davismartindale.com or at 1-519-673-3141.

Principle 10 – You may challenge DM’s compliance with this Privacy Policy.

DM Canada will respond to individual complaints and questions relating to privacy. We will investigate and attempt to resolve all complaints.

To challenge compliance with this Policy, please forward your concerns in writing to our Privacy Officer. The Privacy Officer will ensure that a complete investigation of your complaint has been undertaken and will report their findings to you in most instances within 30 days.

We know that protecting your privacy is important to you. That is why it is so important to us. If you have any questions or concerns about your privacy and our role in protecting it, please contact our Privacy Officer at privacyofficer@davismartindale.com or at 1-519-673-3141.