Privacy Policy

CER is committed to upholding the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Our Privacy Policy sets out how we manage personal information held by us.

Definitions

For the purpose of this Privacy Policy:

• Clients means employers and organisations to whom we provide our services.

• Clients’ Personnel means the employees, contractors, volunteers, agents, job seekers or any such person with whom a Client has, or may have, an employment relationship.

• CER, we, our and us means Catholic Employment Relations Limited.

• Personal information has the same meaning as defined in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and generally means any information about a person that identifies that person or from which that person’s identity reasonably can be determined.

• Sensitive information has the same meaning as defined in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and is a subset of personal information.

• Services means

• Website refers to CER’s website located at https://cer.catholic.org.au/.

Why do we collect personal information?

CER provides services to our Clients and carries out other related activities in our role as a representative and advisory body to our Clients. We collect personal information from our Clients when it is reasonably necessary to enable us to carry out these activities, services and programs and for secondary purposes for which our Clients would reasonably expect us to use or disclose personal information.

Other purposes for which we collect personal information include:

• negotiating enterprise or workplace agreements on behalf of our Clients;

• advocating on behalf of our Clients through public submissions to industrial tribunals and legislative review committees;

• developing or evaluating our activities, services and programs;

• managing our business, including our Website; and

• complying with our legal obligations.

What kind of personal information do we collect?

The types of information we may collect and hold varies depending on the purpose for which it is collected (see above).

General Collection

CER may collect personal information such as:

• contact details and names of members of the public who contact us;

• contact details, names, positions held, and/or title of employees/representatives of our Clients;

• records of confidential advice provided to our Clients; and

• personal details of our contractors and external consultants, including contract and payment details.

Persons who contact us can choose not to provide their personal information to us or they may just want to deal with us anonymously or by using a pseudonym. If this happens, we may not be able to provide such persons with the information or services they require.

Provision of Advice

In circumstances where we have been instructed to provide confidential legal or employment relations advice or guidance to our Clients, we may be provided with personal information of some of our Clients’ Personnel including:

• personal information such as names, addresses, qualifications position held, employment history and details of his or her employment at the Client;

• job applications with the Client; and

• sensitive information such as health information of an individual (such as medical reports) in circumstances where we are asked to advise a Client on a matter involving an injured or ill worker.

We may also be provided with personal information of persons to whom our Clients provide services. For example, we may be instructed to provide advice or conduct an investigation in relation to allegations against a Client’s employee, where the allegations involve:

• students and parents to whom our Clients provide educational services

• recipients of health care where our Clients are health care providers

• recipients of disability support services where our clients provide such services.

Website user

The Website uses cookies and other digital identifiers. These may include:

• site performance identifiers: these give us information about how our Website is used. This helps us provide users with a more user-friendly experience.

• analytics cookies: we use these to gather statistics about our Website. For example, Google analytics help us monitor how many users are on the site and what sections are most popular.

Users can clear or disable cookies or digital identifiers from their device by changing the security settings on their web browser. However, doing this might mean that the user may not be able to use the full functionality of this Website.

How do we collect personal information?

We collect information in different ways.  We often collect personal information directly from the person to whom to the information relates, either in person, by telephone or online, including via social media messages.

In circumstances where we are providing advice or services to our Clients, we will collect personal information of Clients’ Personnel from our Clients.  This may be carried out a number of different ways, including:

• face-to-face meetings and interviews; and

• telephone calls and/or written communication from Clients and other organisations (or their representatives).

How do we handle personal information?

Storage

The personal information we hold may be stored in many forms of media, including the following:

• written correspondence, reports and records;

• audio and/or visual data;

• receipts, transaction or financial records; and

• legal documents and information provided to us us in connection with our services provided to our Clients.

We may keep copies of the above documents (in physical or electronic form, at our election) as is necessary to carry out our functions and activities and provide our services and programs.

Security

CER takes the security of personal information seriously.  Security measures we take include, but are not limited to, the following:

• all personal information is securely stored at all times by us or an authorised external service provider;

• frequent use of virus scanning tools;

• our databases are protected by secure user IDs and passwords, to help protect it from misuse, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure; and

• only authorised people who need to have access to personal information will have access to it.

As our Website is linked to the internet, and the internet is inherently insecure, we cannot provide any guarantee regarding the security of transmission of information communicated to us online – despite our best efforts. We also cannot guarantee that the information supplied to us will not be intercepted while being transmitted over the internet.

How do we use/disclose personal information?

Use by CER

Normally, we would use personal information for the purpose(s) that it was collected, for any secondary purposes directly related to that primary purpose(s), or to comply with our legal obligations.  Personal information may also be used internally within CER by authorised officers.

Disclosure to third parties

If necessary to carry out our functions and activities and provide our services and programs, we may need to disclose personal information of our Clients and Clients’ Personnel to external service providers.

An example of external service providers to whom we may disclose personal information are companies that provide electoral and ballot services to Clients’ Personnel to enable voting to occur as part of the process of negotiating enterprise or workplace agreements.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that external service providers and third parties only use personal information that we provide for the purpose(s) for which we have been given the personal information.

We may also disclose personal information when we are legally required or permitted to do so.

International disclosure

We do not transfer any personal information about any individual to any foreign country, nor do we store our electronic data on servers outside of Australia.

Opting Out

CER may use personal information we collect directly from an individual (for example, from a representative of a Client or from a user of our Website) to send information about our work and promotional or marketing material from time to time.

Any such promotional or marketing material sent by us will clearly indicate to the receiver as to how they may opt out of receiving any such material in the future.  Persons may also opt out of receiving further promotional or marketing materials from us by contacting us at any time.

Access to personal information

Individuals have a right to access their personal information held by us.  We will always confirm the identity of the person requesting access before giving access to the personal information.

There are circumstances under Australian privacy laws where we may not give access to the personal information we hold. For example, we can’t give access if it would unreasonably affect someone else’s privacy or if giving access poses a serious threat to someone’s life, health or safety.

Contact Us

If you need to contact us for any reason in relation to this Privacy Policy or personal information (whether it be if you need to update your information, access your information, ask a question about how we handle personal information, make a comment about this Privacy Policy or to make a privacy complaint), you can address your questions or complaints to the CER Privacy Officer via the methods set out below.

Address:            

Catholic Employment Relations Ltd
Level 7
123 Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000

Email: enquiries@cer.catholic.org.au
Phone: (02) 9189 5999

If you make a complaint about privacy, we will acknowledge receipt of your complaint, and try to investigate and respond to you within 30 days. If you are unhappy with the outcome, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy was last updated on: 7 June 2022

If this Privacy Policy changes, the revised Policy will be posted on our Website. Please check back periodically, especially before you provide any personal information. Your continued use of the Website following any amendments to it will confirm your acceptance of such amendments.