Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice for California Job Applicants and Employees

Advisors Excel and its affiliates (collectively, “Advisors Excel”) take your privacy seriously and want you to know how we collect, use, and disclose your personal information. This Privacy Notice applies to the personal information of California residents in their role as either job applicants to Advisors Excel or Advisors Excel employees.

“Personal Information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular Applicant or Employee (collectively, “Applicants”).

 

The Categories of Personal Information We Collect About You

  • Identifiers - for example, real name, nickname, telephone number, postal address, e-mail address, and signature.
  • Professional, Employment, or Education Related Information – for example, resumes/cover letters, educational institutions attended, academic transcripts, degrees and certifications, licenses, work experience and previous employers, and professional memberships and affiliations.
  • Work Authorization Status – for example, documentation and information required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States, such as citizenship, visa type, or work permit expiration date.
  • Job Preferences – for example, desired compensation, willingness to relocate, and positions for which you are interested.
  • Sensory or Surveillance Data – for example, voicemails, audio/visual recordings of interviews, and footage from video surveillance cameras at our work locations.
  • Section 1798.80 Information, including personal information to the extent not already included in other categories in this section, such as photographs or health information.
  • Characteristics of Protected Classification Under California or Federal Law for Applicants, collected on a purely voluntary basis, except where collection is required by law, and used only in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
  • Other details – for example, hobbies and leisure activities or membership in voluntary/charitable/public organizations typically listed on an applicant’s resume or information submitted in connection with any assessment you may take as part of the interview process.

The Categories of Sources from Which We Collect Your Personal Information

  • You - for example, in your job application, forms you fill out for us, assessments you complete, surveys you complete, and any information you provide us during the course of your application, interview, and employment process.
  • Vendors and Service Providers – for example, payroll management vendors and recruiting agencies.
  • Third Parties – for example, job references, affiliated companies, or staffing agencies.
  • Public Internet Sources – for example, social media, job boards, public profiles, and other public online sources.
  • Public Records – for example, court records, and credentialing and licensing organizations.
  • Government or Administrative Agencies – for example, law enforcement, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

The Purposes For Which We Use Your Personal Information

We use applicants’ personal information for the following purposes:

  • Recruiting, including:
    • To review and process applications
    • To assess applicants’ qualifications or suitability for employment
    • To communicate with applicants’ during the recruitment process
    • To verify the information you provide and carry out reference checks
    • To prepare offers of employment and demonstrate applicant’s agreement to, or acceptance of, documents presented to them (e.g. offer letter)
    • To conduct pre-employment or criminal history background checks
    • To evaluate and improve our recruiting processes, including analyzing recruiting metrics
    • To create a talent pool for future job openings
    • To suggest other suitable job opportunities for you
  • Employee Onboarding and Employment, including:
    • To conduct employee onboarding
    • To maintain and administer payroll and employee benefit plans, including enrollment and claims handling
    • To provide employees with human resource management services and employee data maintenance and support services
    • To communicate with employees, their emergency contacts, and plan beneficiaries
    • To create and maintain your online employee accounts
    • Other human resources purposes
  • Monitoring, Security, and Compliance, including:
    • To monitor use of facilities and information systems
    • To ensure compliance with applicable laws and our policies
    • To comply with applicable state and federal labor, employment, tax benefits, workers’ compensation, disability, equal employment opportunity, and related laws
    • To create and submit reports as required by applicable laws and regulations
    • To conduct internal audits and investigations
    • To protect the safety and security of our facilities and information systems
    • To exercise our rights under applicable law and to support any claim, defense, or declaration in a case or before a jurisdictional and/or administrative authority, arbitration, or mediation panel
  • Conducting Our Business, including:
    • To manage and operate information technology and communications systems, risk management and insurance functions, budgeting, financial management and reporting, and strategic planning
    • In connection with a corporate transaction, sale, or assignment of assets, merger, divestiture, or other changes of control or financial status for us or any of our affiliates
    • To manage licenses, permits, or authorizations applicable to our business operations
    • To protect the rights, property, or safety of our company, employees, clients, customers, or others

Purposes for Using Applicants’ and Employees’ Personal Health Information:

  • To the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, such as to accommodate disabilities
  • For occupational health and safety compliance and record-keeping
  • To respond to an Applicant’s or Employee’s medical emergency

 

Purposes for Using Applicants’ Protected Categories of Information:

We collect information about race, age, national origin, disability, gender identity, sex, and veteran status as necessary to comply with legal obligations, including reporting requirements of the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Act and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, and for the purpose of analytics. We also use this personal information for purposes including: (a) with respect to disability and/or medical condition, as necessary, to comply with federal and California law related to accommodation; and (b) with respect to age, incidentally to the use of birth date for identity verification.

This Privacy Notice does not cover background screening conducted by our third-party background check vendor subject to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. There is a separate disclosure for such screening.

 

How We May Disclose Your Personal Information

We treat information related to Applicants and Employees as confidential. However, from time to time, we may have a legitimate business need to disclose personal information for one of the purposes listed above to one or more of the categories of external recipients listed below. In that event, we will disclose your personal information only to the minimum extent necessary to achieve the purpose of the disclosure and only if the disclosure is permitted by the CPRA and other applicable laws.

  • Service providers and contractors. We disclose your personal information to service providers and contractors for the purposes above to assist us in our recruiting efforts and in meeting our business needs and legal obligations. We will only disclose your personal information to these service providers and contractors via a written contract.
  • Affiliated companies. Other companies within the Advisors Excel family of companies.
  • Government or administrative agencies. These may include, for example:
    • Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as required for reporting.
    • California Department of Fair Employment and Housing as required to respond to employment claims and charges.
    • Securities and Exchange Commission or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, as required to comply with regulatory requests related to these agencies’ supervision of our regulated affiliates.
    • Law enforcement in the event of criminal investigations.
  • Required Disclosures. We may be required to disclose personal information in a court proceeding, in response to a court order, subpoena, civil discovery request, other legal process, or as otherwise required by law.
  • Legal Compliance and Protections. We may disclose personal information when we believe disclosure is necessary to comply with the law or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our company, our employees, our clients, or others.
  • Corporate Transactions. We may disclose your personal information in connection with a corporate merger, consolidation, bankruptcy, the sale or all, or substantially all, of our membership interests and/or assets or other corporate change, including to any prospective purchasers.

We do not sell the personal information of any Applicants or Employees, nor do we share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

 

How Long We Keep Your Personal Information

If we hire you, the information collected about you during the job application process may become part of your personnel file and may be used to administer the employment relationship and for related reporting and recordkeeping purposes. We will retain this application information for the entire duration of your employment relationship with us and for as long thereafter as permitted or required by applicable law.

We will retain information of applicants who are not hired for at least four (4) years after the record is collected, in compliance with California Government Code § 12946. During that time, we may use your information to consider you for positions in addition to the position(s) for which you initially applied. Thereafter, we will retain this information for as long as permitted or required by applicable law.

 

Your Privacy Rights and How To Exercise Them

Your California Privacy Rights:

  • Right to Know. You have the right to submit a verifiable request for copies of specific pieces of your personal information obtained from you and for information about our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information.
  • Right to Delete. You have a right to submit a verifiable request for the deletion of personal information that you have provided to us.
  • Right to Correct. You have the right to submit a verifiable request for the correction of inaccurate personal information maintained by us, taking into account the nature of the personal information and the purposes of processing the personal information.
  • Right to Opt Out of Sale and Sharing. You have the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information and the disclosure of your personal information for cross-context advertising. As noted above, we do not sell personal information or disclose personal information for cross-context advertising, and therefore this right does not apply.
  • Right to Restrict Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information. You have the right to restrict our use and disclosure of your sensitive personal information to purposes permitted under the CPRA, such as security, quality control, uses required by law, and disclosures to vendors in support of the permitted purposes. This right only applies to sensitive personal information collected or processed for the purpose of inferring characteristics about you. We do not collect or process your sensitive information for the purpose of inferring characteristics, and therefore, this right does not apply.

 

Authorized Agents

If you want to make a request as an authorized agent on behalf of a California resident, you may use the submission methods noted above.  As part of our verification process, we may request that you provide, as applicable:

  • Proof of your registration with the California Secretary of State to conduct business in California;
  • A power of attorney from the California resident pursuant to Probate Code sections 4000-4465;
  • Written permission that the California resident has authorized you to make a request on the resident’s behalf.  This permission must be signed (via physical or e-signature) by the California resident.

If you are making a request on behalf of a California resident and have not provided us with a power of attorney from the resident pursuant to Probate Code sections 4000-4465, we may also require the resident to:

  • Provide you with written permission signed by the resident to make the request on the resident’s behalf;
  • Verify the resident’s own identity directly with us;
  • Directly confirm with us that the resident provided you permission to submit the request.

 

Instructions for Exercising Your California Privacy Rights

You may notify us of your intent to exercise your rights, or to exercise another’s rights as an authorized agent, by (1) submitting a request via a web form located here https://www.advisorsexcel.com/privacy-center/ca-form/, (2) sending an email to [email protected], or (3) by mailing a request to our home office:

Advisors Excel

Attn: Privacy

2950 SW McClure Rd.

Topeka, KS 66614

Once we receive your request, we will initiate a verification process to confirm your identity. We may ask you to provide additional information to verify your identity for security or fraud-prevention purposes. We use a tiered approach for verification, where we will match pieces of information contained in the request with information already held by us. Where the request involves sensitive personal information, more data points will be required to match information that we maintain. In cases where additional information is required and we are unable to contact you with the contact information you have provided or are otherwise unable to sufficiently verify your identity, we may be unable to respond to your request.

We will not discriminate or retaliate against you for exercising your privacy rights under the California Privacy Rights Act.

 

Updates or Amendments to this Notice

We reserve the right to update or amend this Notice from time to time and any such updates or amendments will be reflected in the Notice available on our website.  If we materially change this Privacy Policy in a way that affects how we use or disclose your personal information, we will provide prominent notice of such changes and the effective date of the changes before making them.