Introduction
- Lotus Technology Innovative Limited and our associated companies ("Lotus", "we", "our" or "us") hold and process data on all applicants and interview candidates in connection with the potential employment relationship ("you" or "your").
- We take your data protection rights and our legal obligations seriously. Your personal information will be treated in a secure and confidential manner and only as set out below.
- The following policy describes the categories of personal information we may process, how your personal information may be processed and how your privacy is safeguarded in the course of our relationship with you. It is intended to comply with our obligations to provide you with information about Lotus’ processing of your personal information under privacy laws. It does not form part of any contract of employment or engagement.
- If you have any questions regarding the processing of your personal information or if you believe your privacy rights have been violated, please contact HR@LotusCars.com.
- The relevant associated company of Lotus with whom you apply for a position will be the data controller of your personal information. You can request full contact details of the relevant Lotus company by contacting us at HR@LotusCars.com .
What data do we process?
Personal Information
We may collect various types of personal information about you for the purposes described in this privacy policy including:
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Personnel related data: your title, forename, middle name(s) and surname, birth name, preferred name, any additional names, gender, nationality, second nationality, date of birth, age, home contact details (e.g. address, telephone number, e-mail), national ID number, immigration and eligibility to work data, languages spoken;
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Data related to your potential engagement with Lotus: work contact details (e.g. address, telephone number, e-mail), work location, default hours, default language, time zone and currency for location, your work biography, your job title and job description, your working hours and patterns, whether you are full or part time; references; the reason for any change in job and date of change;
- Recruitment data: qualifications, references, CV and application, interview and assessment data, vetting and verification information;
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Regulatory data: records of your registration with any applicable regulatory authority, your regulated status and any regulatory references; and
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Remuneration and benefits data: your remuneration information, and tax information.
Certain additional information may be collected where this is necessary and permitted by local applicable laws.
Special categories of personal information
To the extent permitted by applicable laws, Lotus may also collect and process a limited amount of personal information falling into special categories, sometimes called “sensitive personal data”. This term includes information relating to such matters as racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, physical or mental health (including details of accommodations or adjustments), certain maternity/adoption information, trade union membership, sexual orientation, information regarding sexual life, biometric data, genetic data, criminal records and information regarding criminal offences or proceedings.
How does Lotus collect data?
Lotus collects and records your personal information from a variety of sources, but mainly directly from you. You will usually provide this information directly to the relevant hiring manager or to the local human resources contact or enter it into our systems (for example, during the recruitment process, your participation in HR processes, emails you send or through verbal information which may be recorded).
We may also obtain some information from third parties, for example, references from a previous employer, or where we employ a third party to carry out a background check (where permitted by applicable law).
Where we ask you to provide personal information to us on a mandatory basis, we will inform you of this at the time of collection and in the event that particular information is required by the contract or statute this will be indicated. Your failure to provide any mandatory information will mean that we cannot carry out certain HR processes. In some cases, it may mean that we are unable to continue with your potential employment or engagement as Lotus will not have the personal information we believe to be necessary for the effective and efficient administration and management of our relationship with you.
What is the purpose and lawful basis for which data is processed?
Your personal information is collected and processed for various business purposes, in accordance with applicable laws and any applicable collective bargaining agreements.
We have identified the following purposes for processing personal information. These purposes each relate to a lawful basis for processing, as required under applicable law. These purposes include:
No.
Purpose for processing
Lawful basis
a)
Recruitment and selection
This processing is necessary to take steps at the applicant's request to enter a contract of employment.
Lotus also considers that it has a legitimate interest in fully assessing applications for employment to ensure that only suitable and appropriate candidates are both assessed and selected. Lotus considers that this is important to ensure that Lotus identifies the right people for its business who will be able to contribute to its operations and culture.
b)
Appropriate vetting for recruitment and team allocation including, where relevant and appropriate credit checks, right to work verification, identity fraud checks, criminal record checks (if and to the extent permitted by applicable laws), relevant employment history, relevant regulatory status and professional qualifications;
This processing is necessary for the compliance with legal obligations to which Lotus is subject.
Lotus also considers that it has a legitimate interest in managing its business operations in the most effective way. Lotus needs to make decisions relating to the future of its business in order to preserve its business operations or grow its business. These interests include the interests of the workforce as a whole and the Lotus customer base.
c)
To enforce our legal rights and obligations, and for any purposes in connection with any legal claims made by, against or otherwise involving you;
This processing is necessary to perform the contract between you and Lotus and for the compliance with legal obligations to which Lotus is subject.
Lotus also considers that it has a legitimate interest in protecting its organisation from breaches of legal obligations owed to it and to defend itself from litigation. This is needed to ensure that the company’s legal rights and interests are managed appropriately.
d)
To comply with lawful requests by public authorities (including without limitation to meet national security or law enforcement requirements), discovery requests, or where otherwise required or permitted by applicable laws, court orders, government regulations, or regulatory authorities (including without limitation data protection, tax and employment), whether within or outside your country;
This processing is necessary to perform the contract between you and Lotus and for the compliance with legal obligations to which Lotus is subject.
Lotus also considers that it has a legitimate interest in ensuring that it complies with all legal requirements placed on it, whether those are EU obligations or non-EU obligations. Lotus wishes to maintain its reputation as a good corporate citizen and to act appropriately in all the countries in which it does business. This includes cooperating with authorities and government bodies. Indeed, Lotus is required to comply with laws and regulations in those countries in which it does business and to require otherwise would lead to conflicts of laws issues.
Additional information regarding specific processing of personal information may be notified to you locally or as set out in applicable policies.
If you fail to provide personal information
If you fail to provide information when requested, which is necessary for us to consider your application (such as evidence of qualifications or work history), we will not be able to process your application successfully. For example, if we require a credit check or references for this role and you fail to provide us with relevant details, we will not be able to take your application further.
Legal bases for processing
Processing special categories of personal information or sensitive data
The sensitive or special categories of personal information that may be processed by Lotus are set out in this privacy policy.
This may include the following, although this is not an exhaustive list:
No.
Purpose for processing
Lawful basis
a)
Assess and review eligibility to work for Lotus in the jurisdiction in which you work
This processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising the rights of you or Lotus in the field of employment law, social security and social protection law, to the extent permissible under applicable laws.
b)
The collection of statistical data subject to local laws, or where required to record such characteristics to comply with equality and diversity requirements of applicable local legislation or to keep Lotus’s commitment to equal opportunity under review
This processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising the rights of you or Lotus in the field of employment law, social security and social protection law, to the extent permissible under applicable laws.
c)
Administering your trade union membership and ensuring that any relevant rights that you may have in connection with any Trade Union membership are complied with, as required to enable us to meet our obligations under employment law;
This processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising the rights of you or Lotus in the field of employment law, social security and social protection law, to the extent permissible under applicable laws.
d)
Management and investigation of any complaint under Lotus's grievance policy (or other relevant policies), where such characteristics or information are relevant to the particular complaint, in order to comply with employment law obligations.
This processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising the rights of you or Lotus in the field of employment law, social security and social protection law, to the extent permissible under applicable laws.
We may seek your consent to certain processing which is not otherwise justified under one of the above bases. If consent is required for the processing in question, it will be sought from you separately to ensure that it is freely given, informed and explicit. Information regarding such processing will be provided to you at the time that consent is requested, along with the impact of not providing any such consent. You should be aware that it is not a condition or requirement of your potential employment to agree to any request for consent from Lotus.
We will use information about your race, or national or ethic origin, religious, philosophical or moral beliefs, health or sexual orientation, to assess and ensure meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting. Such data will be anonymised prior to processing wherever possible and appropriate.
Processing data relating to criminal convictions and offences
Personal information relating to criminal convictions and offences will only be processed where authorised by applicable laws.
For example:
- A criminal record check may be carried out on recruitment where authorised by applicable laws; or
- An allegation of a criminal offence or conviction arising during your relationship with Lotus may be processed where required or authorised. For example, where we have a legal or regulatory requirement to report an offence or applicable laws authorise Lotus to process information about the offence for the purpose of making decisions regarding your relationship with Lotus.
Retention of personal information
Lotus endeavours to ensure that personal information is kept as current as possible and that irrelevant or excessive data is deleted or made anonymous as soon as reasonably practicable. However, some personal information may be retained for varying time periods in order to comply with legal and regulatory obligations and for other legitimate business reasons.
We will generally retain your personal information only so long as it is required for purposes for which it was collected.
If you have submitted information to our applicant tracking system, we will retain your contact details and information relating to your application/s for a period of 12 months from your last system access, after which your account will be treated as expired. A 30 day advance warning notice will be issued to you by e-mail prior to such expiration. That notice will require you to permit us to hold your data for a further 12 months on a rolling basis, which we will do with your consent. If no response is received to that notice, your data may be deleted.
Automated Decision Making
You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making.
Access to data
Within Lotus, your personal information can be accessed by or may be disclosed internally (including Lotus associated companies and group entities) on a need-to-know basis to:
- Human resources, including managers and team members;
- Management responsible for managing or making decisions in connection with your relationship with Lotus or when involved in an HR process concerning your relationship with Lotus; and
- Where necessary for the performance of specific tasks or system maintenance by personnel in Lotus teams such as the Finance, IT and the HR team.
Your personal information may also be accessed by third parties whom we work together with for providing us with services, such as hosting, supporting and maintaining the framework of our HR information systems.
Examples of third parties with whom your data will be shared include tax authorities, regulatory authorities, Lotus's insurers, bankers, IT administrators, lawyers, auditors, investors, consultants and other professional advisors, payroll providers, and administrators of Lotus's benefits programs. Lotus expects such third parties to process any data disclosed to them in accordance with applicable law, including with respect to data confidentiality and security.
In addition, we may share personal information with national authorities in order to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject. This is for example the case in the framework of imminent or pending legal proceedings or a statutory audit.
Security of data
Lotus uses a variety of technical and organisational methods to secure your personal information in accordance with applicable laws.
Lotus is committed to protecting the security of the personal information you share with us. In support of this commitment, we have implemented appropriate technical, physical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk.
Transfer of personal information
From time to time your personal information (including special categories of personal information) will be transferred to associated companies or group entities of Lotus to process for the purposes described in this privacy policy. These associated companies may be located in countries outside of the European Union, including the US and China. Personal information may also be transferred to third parties, as set out above. As a result, your personal information may be transferred to countries outside of the country in which you work to countries whose data protection laws may be less stringent than yours.
If the transfer is to a country outside the EU/EEA, Lotus will ensure that appropriate or suitable safeguards are in place to protect your personal information and that transfer of your personal information is in compliance with applicable data protection laws. Where required by applicable data protection laws, Lotus requires that service providers (including other Lotus associated companies or group companies) sign standard contractual clauses as approved by the European Commission or other supervisory authority with jurisdiction over the relevant Lotus exporter, or have other safeguards in place. You can obtain a copy of any standard contractual clauses in place which relate to transfers of your personal information by contacting HR@LotusCars.com.
Your rights
Right to access, correct and delete your personal information
Lotus aims to ensure that all personal information are correct. You also have a responsibility to ensure that changes in personal circumstances are notified to Lotus so that we can ensure that your data is up-to-date.
You have the right to request access to any of your personal information that Lotus may hold, and to request correction of any inaccurate data relating to you. You furthermore have the right to request deletion of any irrelevant data we hold about you.
Data portability - where we are relying upon your consent or the fact that the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party as the legal basis for processing, and that personal information is processed by automatic means, you have the right to receive all such personal information which you have provided to Lotus in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and also to require us to transmit it to another controller where this is technically feasible.
Right to restriction of processing - you have the right to restrict our processing of your personal information where:
- You contest the accuracy of the personal information until we have taken sufficient steps to correct or verify its accuracy;
- Where the processing is unlawful but you do not want us to erase the data;
- Where we no longer need the personal information for the purposes of the processing, but you require them for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; or
- Where you have objected to processing justified on legitimate interest grounds (see below) pending verification as to whether Lotus has compelling legitimate grounds to continue processing.
Where personal information is subjected to restriction in this way we will only process it with your consent or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Right to withdraw consent -where you have provided us with your consent to process data, you have the right to withdraw such consent at any time. You can do this by (i) in some cases deleting the relevant data from the relevant HR system (although note that in this case it may remain in back-ups and linked systems until it is deleted in accordance with our data retention policy) or (ii) contacting your local Human Resources contact or (iii) sending the request to HR@LotusCars.com.
Right to object to processing justified on legitimate interest grounds - where we are relying upon legitimate interest to process data, then you have the right to object to that processing. If you object, we must stop that processing unless we can either demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that override your interests, rights and freedoms or where we need to process the data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. Where we rely upon legitimate interest as a basis for processing we believe that we can demonstrate such compelling legitimate grounds, but we will consider each case on an individual basis.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in your country of residence, if you consider that the processing of your personal information infringes applicable law.
For further information regarding your rights, or to exercise any of your rights, please contact us on HR@Lotuscars.com.
Notice of changes
We may amend this policy from time to time to keep it up to date with legal requirements and the way we operate the Intranet and our business. Please regularly check these pages for the latest version of this policy.
CONTACT
If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact us on HR@LotusCars.com. You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.
