This page provides information about the use of personal information while you are staff, faculty, contractor, or other employee paid by The College of New Jersey. As a member of the College’s staff (or equivalent) you also have certain legal and contractual responsibilities to protect the personal information of other people (e.g. other employees, students, research participants, etc.) by handling it appropriately; relevant policies and guidance are available at https://hr.tcnj.edu/policies/.
- What is ‘personal information’?
‘Personal information’ means any information which relates to or identifies you as an individual.
- Who will process my personal information?
The information published here applies to the use, sharing and disclosure of your personal information by the Office of Human Resources at The College of New Jersey.
- What personal information will be processed?
The College will keep a record of the details you provided on your application form, any supporting documents requested and additional details provided by any references and recorded following any interview process. We will maintain various administrative and financial records about your employment at the College, and about your use of the academic and non-academic facilities and services that we offer. Where relevant, we may supplement these records with personal data from the public domain (e.g. your publications) or other sources.
Your personal information is created, stored and transmitted securely in a variety of paper and electronic formats, including some databases that are shared between units of the College. Access to your personal information is limited to staff who have a legitimate interest in it for the purpose of carrying out their employment duties, and our use of your personal information will be as minimal as possible.
In addition to this, the College may process some information about you that is classed as ‘sensitive’ or ‘special category’ personal data, and which requires additional protections. This includes information concerning your ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or health/disability for planning and monitoring purposes, or in order to provide care, help or suitable adjustments. For certain roles, other sensitive information may be processed, such as information about past criminal convictions, working with children or vulnerable adults, and your fitness to practice in certain regulated professions. Access to, and the sharing of, your ‘sensitive’ personal data are controlled very carefully. You will generally be given further details about our use of any such data when we collect it from you.
- What is the purpose and legal basis of the processing?
The College will process your personal information for a range of contractual or statutory purposes, including the following:
- To assess your suitability for a particular role or task.
- To support you in implementing any accommodations to allow you to carry out a particular role or task.
- To administer payroll, pension and other standard employment functions.
- To administer HR-related processes, including those relating to performance/absence management, disciplinary issues and complaints/grievances.
- To operate governance, audit and quality assurance arrangements.
- To deliver facilities (e.g. IT, libraries), services (e.g. accommodation, childcare) and staff benefits to you, and where appropriate to monitor your use of those facilities in accordance with College policies (e.g. on the acceptable use of IT).
- To communicate effectively with you by post, email and phone, including the distribution of relevant newsletters and circulars.
- To support your training, health, safety, welfare and religious requirements.
- To compile statistics and conduct surveys and research for internal and statutory reporting purposes.
- To fulfil and monitor our responsibilities under equal opportunity, immigration and public safety legislation.
- To enable us to contact others in the event of an emergency (we will assume that you have checked with the individuals before you supply their contact details to us).
We consider the processing of your personal information for these purposes to be either necessary for the performance of our contractual obligations with you (e.g. to manage your employment contract), or necessary for compliance with a legal obligation (e.g. equal opportunities monitoring). We require you to provide us with any information we reasonably ask for to enable us to administer your employment at the College. If we require your consent for any specific use of your personal information, we will collect it at the appropriate time and you can withdraw this at any time. We will not use your personal information to carry out any wholly automated decision-making that affects you.
- Who will my personal information be shared with?
Your personal information is shared as permitted or required by law, on a considered and confidential basis, with a range of external organizations, including the following:
- The external providers of any staff benefits or pensions.
- Where relevant and necessary, your own or other Colleges.
- Relevant Government Departments and state agencies.
- Any relevant professional organizations.
- Any relevant simultaneous employers.
- Relevant trade unions.
- On occasion and where necessary, the police and other law enforcement agencies.
- On occasion and where necessary, auditors.
- On occasion and where necessary, affiliated entities of the College (e.g. TCNJ Foundation).
- Companies or organizations providing specific services to, or on behalf of, the College.
We will provide references about you to external inquiries or organizations where you have requested or indicated that we should do so.
We will include your basic contact details in our online directory. Some information about College staff (e.g. appointments or committee memberships) is published in the College magazine, newspaper, or other newsletters.
Other than as set out above, we will not normally publish or disclose any personal information about you to other external enquirers or organizations unless you have requested it or consented to it, or unless it is in your vital interests to do so (e.g. in an emergency situation).
- How can I access my personal information?
You have the right to access the personal information that is held about you by the College. Further details are set out on the College’s Privacy Office webpage.
- How long is my information kept?
We store your personal information as part of your staff record for the duration of your employment (and it may be used as part of our assessment of any future application you make for further employment at the College). After you leave certain records pertaining to your employment are retained indefinitely so that the details of your employment can be confirmed. Information about how long different types of information are retained by the College, as required by New Jersey, USA, state law is published at http://www.nj.gov/treasury/revenue/rms/retention.shtml.
- Who can I contact?
If you have any questions about how your personal information is used, or wish to exercise any of your rights, please consult the College’s Privacy Office webpage. If you need further assistance, please contact the College’s Privacy Officer at (privacy@tcnj.edu).
- Are changes made to this notice?
This notice was last updated in May 2018. It is reviewed when necessary and at least annually. Any changes will be published here and you will be notified via this notice.