Information about data processing in relation to job applicants
Dear Sir or Madam,
Uniform data protection legislation has been in place and valid for the whole of the European Union since 25 May 2018. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679 - hereinafter referred to as the “GDPR”) contains the relevant provisions on data protection. This regulation also applies to data processing in conjunction with the establishment of an employment relationship. The RODINA ENERGY Group “Group Directive on Data Protection” also contains stipulations concerning the handling of personal data, which define the Group standards to be upheld in relation to data protection.
The GDPR obliges all RODINA ENERGY Group companies, as both employers and processors of personal data, in particular to inform all job applicants affected by data processing about the data that will be collected and processed and to inform them of their rights under the GDPR. In this information section we will be showing you which of your personal data we process in the case of a job application. We will also inform you of your general rights in conjunction with the processing of your personal data (hereinafter referred to as “data subjects' rights”).
I. Control of data / responsibilities
The controller, as defined in Art. 4(7) GDPR, which is responsible for the data processing, is the Group company to which you have applied for a job.
If you have any questions about the processing of your personal data by us, or on the subject of data protection in general, please contact our data protection team at hr@rodinaeg.com
II. Purpose of, and the legal basis for, the data processing
1.
We process your personal data in order to check your suitability for the position that has been advertised (or, where appropriate, other vacant positions within the Group) and to follow through with the job application process in the context of a decision about establishing an employment relationship. This processing of your personal data has its legal basis in Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR and Art. 88 GDPR, together with the national requirements in force in the country in which you are applying (such as e.g. section 26 Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) in Germany).
2.
Once the job application process has concluded, should the captured data be required to make or defend a legal claim, data may be processed on the basis of the provisions of Art. 6 GDPR, and in particular, for the purposes of legitimate interest, as set out in Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The legitimate interest of the Group company in question lies in the assertion or defence of a legal claim.
3.
In certain cases, or when the position you are applying for involves working with highly confidential information or having responsibility for personnel and/or financial matters, it may be necessary, for the purposes of preventing fraud, protecting our reputation and expertise and fulfilling international compliance stipulations, to collect and process data about you on a more extensive scale. In order to uphold data protection, any such additional data processing (called Pre-Employment Screening - hereinafter referred to “PES”) will only take place towards the end of the job application process. If the post for which you are applying, or indeed your application, will be subject to this additional data processing, we will inform you of this separately.
The legal basis for carrying out PES is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The legitimate interest of the RODINA ENERGY Group in carrying out PES lies in the necessity of performing impartial verification of qualifications to select the most suitable candidate for the job, prevent fraud, protect our reputation and expertise, reduce liability risks and fulfil international compliance stipulations.
The processing of special categories of personal data as described in Art. 9(1) GDPR in the PES process is restricted to personal data which has manifestly been made public by the data subject (Art. 9(2)(e) GDPR).
You can find out more about PES in section VII of these information pages.
4.
When consent is given to process certain personal data or to a certain form of processing, this consent forms the legal basis (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR) for permitted data processing.
5.
If we offer you a position and you accept it, the information provided by you as part of the job application process and the PES summary (see section VI.2 of these information pages) will be placed on the personnel file and used to set up and administer the employment relationship.
6.
Anonymized job application data will be used at the end for statistical purposes.
III. Categories of personal data
1.
We initially process the personal data that you have provided us with as part of your job application. This usually involves the following data:
Master data (name, first name, date of birth);
Contact data (address, telephone number, email address etc.);
Where applicable, nationality, work permit, health-related data proving aptitude to do the job;
Job application data such as the CV, cover letter, references, letters of recommendation and any other information and data that you make available to us or tell us in your interviews;
Resume photo.
If you wish to avail yourself of special rights for severely handicapped candidates during the job application process, you may state that you are severely handicapped in your application cover letter.
Unless, exceptionally, there are legal stipulations on what information must be provided, you yourself decide what information you make available to us.
As part of the job application process it may be that you provide us with further data, but this will be on the basis of you giving your consent - for example, if you are asked if you are prepared to undergo a Personal Profile Analysis.
2.
The categories of personal data relating to you which we process as part of PES, and where the data comes from, are described in more detail in section VII of these information pages.
IV. Recipients and categories of data recipients
Once your application has been received, the information in it will be viewed by recruiters, some of whom may work for processors which themselves work for the individual Group companies. Suitable applications will then be forwarded internally to those persons in the department who are responsible for dealing with the vacant post in question. Within the RODINA ENERGY Group, the only people who may access your data are those who require it in order to be able to manage the job application process in a due and proper manner.
Equally, where appropriate, a member of the Works Council responsible for this area and/or the severely handicapped employee representative may use your data in order to exercise participation rights with regard to filling the post.
Other potential recipients of personal data include e.g.:
• other Group companies, if you have agreed to be placed in our talent pool;
• the Compliance Unit of the RODINA ENERGY Group, if PES takes place;
• processors, e.g. in relation to the recruitment portal, conducting Personal Profile Analyses and PES;
• other data recipients, on the basis of you having given your consent to this.
V. Transmission of data to a third country or to an international organization
Data will only be transmitted to countries outside the EU or EEA (so-called third countries) if this is necessary for the execution of orders, has been legally stipulated (e.g. reporting obligations under certain tax laws), you have given us your consent to this or as part of order processing. If service providers are deployed in third countries, in addition to complying with written instructions by implementing appropriate measures (including working according to agreements incorporating standard EU contract clauses), they are also obliged to ensure an appropriate level of data protection as set out in Chapter V of the GDPR. You may view such agreements at any time.
If the position for which you are applying involves employment with a Group company located outside the European Union and the European Economic Area, your personal data will be forwarded to the Group company headquartered outside the European Union and the European Economic Area. In such cases we will implement special measures to ensure your personal data is protected in the same way as it would be inside the European Union.
VI. Data retention period
1.
Your data will be stored by us until such time as you withdraw your application. If the job application process is concluded without us appointing you, we will normally store your data for a further 12 months. This holding period may vary, however, dependent on the regulations specific to the country in which you submit your application. If you have queries about this, please feel free to contact us at hr@rodinaeg.com. The data will in any case only be stored by us for as long as it is required to safeguard the Group’s interests, e.g. if there are legal proceedings. If you have agreed to be placed in our talent pool, should you revoke your consent, your data will be erased immediately. If you are employed by us, your application data is placed on your personnel file.
2.
If your application involves PES, the data collected about you as part of the PES process will - with the exception of the PES summary, which will be placed on your personnel file if an employment relationship is established - be erased in compliance with data protection requirements 3 months after completion of the summary of the PES.
VII. Pre-Employment Screening (PES)
1.
As a rule, Pre-Employment Screening (PES) is only carried out on job applicants who are applying for a position which will involve working with highly confidential information or having responsibility for personnel and/or financial matters. In certain cases there may be a requirement to carry out some of the checks and measures covered in the PES process and detailed below on other job applicants as well.
Should the job you are applying for be subject to the PES process, or if a job application presents itself as a case appearing to require more extensive gathering and processing of your personal data, you will be separately informed by us of the form and scope PES will take in advance of starting the process.
2.
PES encompasses the collection and processing of the following data, which may vary in scope from case to case:
a. Verification of the highest educational qualification - personal contact will be made with/a data query submitted to the educational establishment in individual cases if there is a suspicion of misrepresentation and/or the institution is unknown;
b. Verification of the information supplied on the previous employment relationship - personal contact will be made with the (HR department of the) previous employer - with the exception of the current employer - to request verification of the dates of employment and the job title;
c. Media research - will be carried out solely as part of the employer’s right to question and relates exclusively to professional networks such as LinkedIn and Xing / no private or personal information infringing a person’s right to privacy may be collected;
d. Self-employment - verifying the applicant’s profession/trade by submitting a query to the trade licensing office;
e. Verification of shareholdings in, and connections with, other companies - checks will be carried out on the candidate’s previous and/or current direct shareholdings, and executive positions held, in other companies / done by referencing the commercial registers and other official databases of the relevant countries;
f. Certificate of good conduct - within the EU this is provided by the candidate personally applying to the public authorities for the certificate and presenting it as proof;
g. Criminal record check - this will be obtained in appropriate cases by interrogating the criminal record database(s) of countries outside the EU (the existence of which and the information contained in them may vary from country to country, as well as jurisdictions within a country);
h. Compliance check - will be carried out in appropriate cases by the Business Compliance Unit of the RODINA ENERGY Group, by interrogating relevant lists such as: anti-corruption lists, watch lists, sanctions lists, terrorism lists, embargo lists;
i. Checking of political connections - will be done by checking against PEP lists (lists of Politically Exposed Persons) in the case of a person who has held a senior public office in the last 12 months;
j. Reputation checking - will be done by searching general sources in the public domain, e.g. daily newspapers, the regional press, trade publications, databases, forums and social media, with a view to establishing whether public statements, media reports and/or the candidate’s media presence could have a negative impact on the reputation or standing of the RODINA ENERGY Group.
3.
As a rule, PES is only carried out for selected positions which involve working with particularly confidential information or having responsibility for personnel and/or financial matters. The following positions are currently earmarked to have the following PES checks/measures performed:
a. Heads of companies/central divisions/central staff divisions/sub-divisions/business units/project managers on the same managerial level (i.e. with responsibility for complex construction projects)/experts on the same managerial level (i.e. with particular expertise, who mainly have responsibility for specialist tasks) - all the checks/measures listed in section VII.2 of these information pages (although check VII.2.c is not required for persons counted as experts);
b. Group managers/project managers on the same managerial level (i.e. with responsibility for complex construction projects)/experts on the same managerial level (i.e. with particular expertise, who mainly have responsibility for specialist tasks) - all the checks/measures listed in section VII.2.a - d of these information pages (although check VII.2.c is not required for persons counted as experts);
c. Employees working in procurement - the checks/measures listed in section VII.2.a - d of these information pages;
d. Employees working in IT and product software development: the checks/measures listed in section VII.2.a, b and d of these information pages.
4.
You may refuse to allow the data processing as part of the PES process, or revoke your consent to future processing at any time. In such a case, however, we may not be able to consider you for the position you have applied for.
VIII. Data subjects' rights
In order to exercise your rights, and in the event you wish to complain about an aspect of the processing of your personal data, please contact our data protection team. You will find the contact details in section I of these information pages.
You have the following rights under the GDPR:
1.
If your personal data is being processed, you have the right to be given information about the data held on you (Art. 15 GDPR).
2.
If incorrect personal data is processed, you have the right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR).
3.
If the legal preconditions are met, you can demand the erasure of the data or restriction of the data processing carried out (Art. 17, 18 GDPR).
4.
If you have consented to the data processing, or the data processing relates to a contract and the processing was performed by means of an automated process, you may have the right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR).
5.
Where you have consented to the processing of your personal data, you have the right to withdraw consent to future processing at any time. The lawfulness of the processing of your personal data up until revocation remains unaffected (Art. 7(3) GDPR).
6.
You have the right, for reasons related to your own particular situation, to object at any time to the processing of personal data concerning your person carried out on the legal basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. If you do object, we will cease to process your personal data - unless we can demonstrate compelling reasons, worthy of defending, for the processing, which we believe outweigh your interests, rights and freedoms, or where the processing is required for asserting, exercising or defending legal claims (Art. 21(1) GDPR).
Where we are processing your personal data on the legal basis of “legitimate interest” but for the purposes of direct advertising, you have the right to object to this processing at any time.
7.
Furthermore, you have the right to submit a complaint to the relevant supervisory body if you are of the opinion that the processing of your personal data violates current law. You can contact the data protection authority responsible for the country/federal state in which your regular place of residence or employment is, or where the alleged violation took place.
You will find further details or supplementary information about the data processing activities in the relevant contract documents, forms, declaration of consent and other information provided to you.
Status: March 2023
