Mercury Group (collectively, “Mercury”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to your
privacy and complies with the State and Federal Privacy Laws including the Privacy
Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles
This Privacy Policy summarises how we handle your personal information. We may revise
this Privacy Policy from time to time by updating this page. The revised Privacy
Policy will take effect when it is posted on our website.
By choosing to become a client of Mercury you can be assured that all personal and
sensitive information you provide to us will be respected and kept secure in accordance
with the law and this Privacy Policy. By using our services, you signify your acceptance
of this Privacy Policy.
Information Mercury collects and holds
A Definition of Personal Information
Personal information is defined by the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 as “Information
or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably
identifiable: (a) whether the information or opinion is true or not; and (b) whether
the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.” It may range
from the very sensitive (e.g. medical history or condition) to the more common (e.g.
address, phone number and date of birth). It would include the opinion of others
about your work performance (whether true or not), your work experience and qualifications,
aptitude test results and other information obtained by us in connection with your
possible employment.
A Definition of Sensitive Information
Sensitive information is a special category of personal information and includes
information or opinion about your:
- Racial or ethnic origin;
- Political opinion;
- Membership of a political association or religious beliefs, affiliations or philosophical
beliefs;
- Membership of a professional or trade association or membership of a trade union;
- Sexual preferences or practices;
- Police record;
- Health or disability (at any time);
- Expressed wishes about the future provisions of health services
From time to time, Mercury may collect certain of your personal and sensitive information
only in connection with the purpose for which it was collected as being reasonably
necessary for or related to Mercury’s business.
Generally, the only personal information we collect about you is that which you
choose to tell us, or which you authorise us to obtain. The type of information
we collect includes, your name, address, telephone number, employment history, police
history (if any), entitlement to work in Australia and billing information. We may
also use your personal information to verify information you have given to us or
our customers, or to comply with the law.
How do we collect and hold your personal information?
Where possible, we will collect your personal information directly from you.
Personal and sensitive information will be collected from you when:
- You provide it to us directly;
- We undertake or receive any personal, professional or academic reference about you;
- We receive any results of inquiries that we might make of your former employers,
colleagues or associates;
- We receive any performance feedback (whether positive or negative);
- We undertake psychological or medical assessments;
- We undertake National Police History Checks and other pre-employment checks.
From time to time, with your consent, we may also collect personal information from
third parties including CrimTrac, Dun & Bradstreet (Australia) Pty Ltd, Accurate
Information Systems LLC, Australian Securities & Investments Commission and
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.
Mercury has established appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures
to safeguard any information we collect. This helps prevent unauthorised access,
maintains data accuracy and ensures that the information is used correctly. All
data transferred to and from the Mercury servers are encrypted via a 1024bit SSL
certificate and a hardware and software firewall is in place to prevent intrusion.
All data stored within the Mercury’s systems can only be accessed by authorised
staff members and the hosting facility.
The purpose for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information.
We collect personal information that we consider relevant for the purpose of providing our services.
Sensitive information, in most cases, can only be disclosed with your written consent. Unless you choose not to let Mercury do so,
Mercury may use your details to tell you about special offers, new products and services.
The ability to opt out of such marketing activities is provided via My Account tab of the user profile portal.
Some of the ways we use personal information include:
- Communicate with you as part of providing these services to you.
- Send you important information regarding changes to our policies, other terms and conditions, product updates, special offers, On-line Services and other administrative issues.
- Manage our infrastructure and business operations, and comply with internal policies and procedures, including those relating to auditing; accounting; billing and collections; IT systems; data and website hosting; business continuity; and records, document and print management.
- Resolve complaints, and handle requests for data access or correction.
- Comply with applicable laws and regulatory obligations (including laws outside your country of residence), such as those relating to anti-money laundering, sanctions and anti-terrorism; comply with legal process; and respond to requests from public and governmental authorities (in outside your country of residence).
- Establish and defend legal rights; protect our operations or those of any of our group companies or insurance business partners, our rights or property, and/or that of our group companies, you or others; and pursue available remedies or limit our damages.
What happens if you don't provide all this information?
If you do not provide some or all of the personal information requested, we may
not be able to provide you with the benefit of our services.
Using a pseudonym or engaging with us anonymously
Where practicable, you will be given the opportunity to engage with us on an anonymous
basis or using a pseudonym. Due to the nature of our services, in most cases, anonymity
will not be possible.
To whom does Mercury disclose your personal information?
We may disclose your personal information to:
- with consent, hospitals at which you are, or seek to be, accredited
- with consent, criminal history information providers
- government authorities (where required by law)
- third parties involved in court action (where required by law)
- with consent, other parties that provide support services to our services.
Website cookies and usage information
When you access our website, we may use software embedded in our website (such as
Javascript) and we may place small data files (or cookies) on your computer or other
device to collect information about which pages you view and how you reach them,
what you do when you visit a page, the length of time you remain on the page, and
how we perform in providing content to you. A cookie does not identify individuals
personally, but it does identify computers.
You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie and this will provide
you with an opportunity to either accept or reject it in each instance. We may gather
your IP address as part of our business activities and to assist with any operational
difficulties or support issues with our services. This information does not identify
you personally.
How an individual access their personal information held by Mercury
If an individual wishes to exercise their rights of access or alternatively has
any questions or believes that any personal information held by Mercury is incorrect
or incomplete, the individual can write to our Privacy Officer at the address below.
Mercury will then take all reasonable steps to correct the information or if necessary
discuss alternative actions with the individual.
Personal information will only be released to the individual directly, unless we
are provided with a written, signed authority by individual to provide it to a third
party.
Updating your personal information
You may ask us to update, correct or delete the personal information we hold about
you at any time. We will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting
access or making any corrections to or deletion of your information. We also have
obligations to take reasonable steps to correct personal information we hold when
we are satisfied that it is inaccurate, out- of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or
misleading for the purpose for which it is held. If you wish to update your personal
information, please use the contact details below
How can you contact Mercury regarding privacy?
If an individual would like to make further inquiries or complain about a breach
of the Australian Privacy Principles, or complain about a registered Australian
Privacy Principles code (if any) that may relate Mercury’s business, the individual
can contact our Privacy Officer at the address:
Privacy Officer
119 Cecil Street
South Melbourne
VIC 3205
Mercury will take all complaints regarding privacy of information seriously. We
will respond to any requests, questions, or complaints as soon as possible in a
reasonable time frame.
If you do not provide us with all or part of the personal information we require,
it may prevent us from providing services, which may impact on your application
for employment with our customers.