Last Updated October 2024

Introduction

This privacy policy applies to www.accurate.com (“Website”) and services owned and operated by Accurate Background, LLC and its subsidiaries (“Accurate”, “we”, “us” or “our”).  Accurate is a background screening company that provides employment screening, background checks, occupational health screening and reports for its customers who have a legal purpose for conducting such screening (“Services”). Accurate’s principal location and headquarters is 200 Spectrum Center Drive, Suite 1100, Irvine, CA  92618.

Accurate understands each individual’s privacy concerns and is committed to protecting personal information and personal data of our customers, clients, Website users, employees, prospective employees, and other individuals. The use of “you” or “your” within this policy refers to the person reading this policy, your organization, or the individual (“data subject”) whose personal information/data is being collected and processed.

Our privacy policy describes how Accurate will treat information collected, processed, disclosed, transferred, used, and retained by Accurate when you are interacting with us, including visiting our Website, using our services, going through the background screening process or applying for employment with Accurate. It also describes the choices available regarding the use of, access to, deletion of, and how to update and correct personal information.   The way in which Accurate handles or processes your personal data is dependent upon whether you are (i) a customer utilizing our Services, (ii) an individual who has consented to a background check with an Accurate customer, (iii) a prospective Accurate employee, (iv) a current Accurate employee, or (v) just browsing our Website and do not otherwise fall in one of the other categories. This policy is intended to address our privacy with regard to each of the foregoing.

The use of Accurate’s Website and Services indicates your agreement to Accurate’s privacy policy.  This policy will change from time to time. Please check the privacy policy each time you use our Website for the most current information.

Contents

 

What personal data and information do we collect?

We collect personal data for multiple reasons based upon the nature of your relationship, transaction, or interaction with us. You may interact with Accurate in more than one way or may fall into more than one of the following categories:

Website Users

  • When you visit this Website, we initially collect general internet data, including your domain name, computer ID, your internet protocol address, your location, the web page from which you entered our Website, which of our web pages you visited, how long you spend on each page and other behavior while visiting our Websites and third-party links. To collect this information, when you visit our Website, a “cookie” will be set on your computer. Cookies contain information that allows our web servers to recognize you whenever you visit. Cookies are explained in more detail below.

 

  • In addition to the general internet information collected when you visit our Website, we may also collect other information that you provide directly to us. This information may include: your name, job title, organization, contact information (name, phone number, email and/or mailing address), your subscription preferences for Website newsletters or notices.

Customer/Vendor

  • Customers are those individuals or organizations that contract with us to procure background screening information and utilize our Services (“customer” or “client”). They may also be referred to as the end user of the background report.

 

  • Vendors, consultants, or other service providers are those individuals or organizations that Accurate contracts with to provide certain services to Accurate, perform certain business-related functions or provide certain data.

 

  • Type of Information:
    • Contact information such as name, email address, phone number, address, or other contact information necessary to provide the Services.
    • Commercial business information such as payment and billing information, contacts, banking or credit card information, account numbers, email addresses and payment or financial information.
    • Organizational information such as the products you order, your company information, size, credit information and other non-personal information.

Candidate or Data Subject of our Customer

  • A candidate or data subject is an individual for whom one of Accurate’s customers has requested Accurate to procure and prepare a background screening report.
  • In addition to information collected as a Website user, Accurate may collect the following regarding data subjects/candidates:
    • Contact information including: name (including prior names and AKAs), email address, address, phone number, and location
    • Identifying Information – social security or other government identification number, driver’s license number, date of birth, mother’s maiden name, place of birth, or other identifying information necessary to determine your identity and provide accurate background screening reports
    • Adress history
    • Criminal record history and information, police records, arrest records, and/or convictions.
    • Driver’s history
      • Credit history information, credit(s), debits, judgments, payment history or patterns, or other credit characteristics
      • Education history and information.
      • Employment history and information
      • Professional licenses
      • Right to work information
      • Occupational health and drug test screening results
      • Opinions and references
      • Directorship and corporate governance, corporate affiliations
      • Publicly available media (social, print or online)
      • Billing or financial information if utilizing AccurateNow’s volunteer services.
      • Other information that may requested by the customer

Prospective Accurate Employees

  • Accurate may collect the same information we collect from our customer’s candidates or data subjects in order to evaluate your eligibility as an employee and/or to perform a background check. In addition to the data subject information, you may provide other information to us during an interview which you feel is necessary for Accurate to know.

Accurate Employee

  • In addition to the foregoing information collected during your application process, Accurate will collect the following information:
    • Interests and other personal information you’re willing share with us
    • Professional background information
    • Identity information (DOB; identity documents, nationality, citizenship, immigration information or other identifying information to ensure you are authorized to work in the location you are being placed).
    • Diversity information or other information (sex, gender, ethnicity, disability information, veteran status, race or other information) – this is for statistical purposes and will not be connected to your identifying information
    • Your work history, progress, job performance, productivity and other information that can help manage your work product
    • Your tax and payroll information, financial information, benefits, insurance information, medical information if needed to provide benefits, and other personal characteristics

How do we collect and use your personal data and information?

Accurate collects the foregoing information in a number of different ways depending on your interaction with Accurate and the purpose of collecting the personal information.  You may fall into more than one of the categories. The use of your personal information is limited (i) to providing the Service for which it was collected; (ii) to respond to requests for information or to facilitate transactions or communications for customers who have a legitimate interest and lawful basis for using such information; (iii) to fulfill a contract with you or our customer; (iv) based on your consent; (v) to comply with the law and legal process; or (vi) for our legitimate interest.

  • Website users – Personal data and information may be automatically collected through technology and interaction with our Website. As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data. We do not link this automatically collected data to personal information. Our Website uses cookies to collect, track, store, and analyze data about you and your visit. See below for more information regarding cookies. We collect this information to ensure our Websites are working properly, to improve Website performance and functionality, monitor security, to market and advertise services you find helpful and provide a more customer and user-centric experience.

 

  • Data subjects or candidates – If you are a data subject or candidate of a customer, a potential Accurate employee, or a current Accurate employee, we collect personal information for the purpose of processing and conducting the background screening. In most instances you will be notified beforehand and will provide your authorization and consent* to collect and use your personal information.  We will collect your information from the following sources:
    • From you
    • From our customer(s)
    • Public records
    • Publicly available media; social media or other sources
    • Schools, employers, credit reporting agencies, law enforcement agencies, courts or other governmental agencies, references or third parties you provided us to contact for information regarding your character

*Accurate does not rely on consent outside of the US for utilizing personal information to conduct the background screening. Our customers are required to have a lawful basis for ordering background checks.

  • Accurate employees – For current Accurate employees, we may collect personal information necessary for processing human resource functions and may collect information from:
    • Any of the foregoing
    • Insurance company
    • Benefits providers
    • Your supervisor
    • Your co-workers

 

  • Customers – For Accurate customers we collect personal information directly from you or from our Website or service platform. We collect your data so that we can process your order and provide Services; manage your account; provide results, reports, and other information.
    • In addition to the uses above and to provide better services, Accurate may aggregate personal information and data for analysis of trends and user statistics. Any personal information aggregated no longer identifies any specific individual or user, and personal data is anonymized.

How do we share your personal information and data?

Accurate Background will only transfer personal information to affiliates, partners, vendors, customers and other third parties  as needed to provide our Service. Transfers to third parties are covered by the provisions in this policy regarding notice and choice and by the service agreements with our clients.  We will not release your personal information to third parties except as necessary for us to process the Service.

How do we store your personal information and data?

How long we keep personal information depends on the type of information and purposes for which it is collected. We retain personal information (i) as long as it is needed to provide our Services, (ii) long enough to meet our and our clients’ contractual, legal, and business needs, or (iii) as long as we have an ongoing legitimate business or legal purpose to do so. Once we no longer need your personal information, it is deleted or anonymized, meaning you can no longer be identified from any remaining information.

Third parties with whom we partner to provide certain features on our Website or to display advertising based on your web browsing activity, use Local Storage (HTML5) to store content information and preferences. Various browsers may offer their own management tools for removing HTML5.

What are your data protection rights?

You have certain data protection rights under various privacy laws. You are entitled to the following rights:

 

  • The right to access – You have the right to request that Accurate provide copies of your personal data. We may charge you a small fee for this service.
  • The right to rectification – You have the right to request that Accurate correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request that Accurate complete information you believe is incomplete.
  • The right to erasure – You have the right to request that Accurate erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to restrict processing – You have the right to request that Accurate restrict the processing of your personal data under certain conditions.
  • The right to object to processing – You have the right to object to Accurate’s processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to data portability – You have the right to request that Accurate transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

 

Access to Data Controlled by our Clients

In some cases, Accurate processes personal information on behalf of our clients.  If you are seeking access, correction, or deletion of inaccurate data, you should direct your query to our client (the data controller).  If you are a data subject or candidate of one of our clients and would no longer like to be contacted by our clients or wish to withdrawal your consent to use our service, please contact the client that you interact with directly.

Marketing

We partner with a third party to display advertising on our Website or to manage our advertising on other sites. Our third-party partner may use technologies such as cookies to gather information about your activities on this Website and other sites to provide you advertising based upon your browsing activities and interests.  Cookies are discussed in more detail below.

If you supply us with your postal address online, you may receive periodic mailings from us with information on new products and services or upcoming events. If you do not wish to receive such mailings, please let us know by emailing, calling, or writing to us at the address below.

If you wish to subscribe to our newsletter(s), we will use your name and email address to send the newsletter to you. You may choose to stop receiving our newsletter or marketing emails by: (i) following the unsubscribe instructions included in these emails, (ii) accessing the email preferences in your account settings page, or (iii) you can contact us at customer_service@accurate.com. If you do not want to receive e-mails from us in the future, please let us know by emailing, calling, or writing to us at the address below.

We display personal testimonials and other endorsements of satisfied customers on our Website. With your consent, we may post your testimonial along with your name. If you wish to update or delete your testimonial, you can contact us by using the contact information provided below.

User Access and Choice

If your personal information changes, or if you no longer desire our newsletters or similar marketing services, you may correct, update, amend or delete/remove it by making the change on our member information page or by contacting us by email, telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed below. We will respond to your request within 30 days. Accurate Background will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide our marketing services.

Social Media Widgets

Our Website includes social media features such as the ‘Share this’ button, Facebook ‘Like’ button, or interactive mini programs that run on our Website. These features may collect your IP address, information about which page you are visiting on our Website and will set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Website. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

Blog with Comments

Our Website offers publicly accessible blogs. You should be aware that any information you provide in this area can be read, collected, and used by others. To request removal of your personal information from our blog or community forum, contact us by using the contact information provided below. In some cases, we are not able to remove your personal information. We will notify you if we are unable to do so.

Third Party Websites/Links

Our Website includes links to other websites whose privacy practices may differ from those of Accurate Background. If you submit personal information to any of those sites, your information is governed by their privacy policies. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy policy of any website you visit.

Cookies

What is a Cookie?

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behavior information. When you visit our Website, we may collect information from you automatically through cookies or similar technology. Cookies help us make your experience better and more efficient.

For further information, visit allaboutcookies.org.

When you visit this Website, we collect general internet data, including your domain name, the web page from which you entered our Website, which of our web pages you visited, and how long you spend on each page. To collect this information, when you visit our Website , a “cookie” will be set on your computer. Cookies contain information that allows our web servers to recognize you whenever you visit.

How do we use Cookies?

Accurate uses cookies in a range of ways to improve your experience on our Website, including:

  • Keeping you signed in
  • Understanding how you use our Website
  • Employing tracking technologies such as cookies, beacons, scripts, and tags that we, our partners, affiliates, or analytics and service providers use to analyze trends, to administer the Website, to track users’ movements around the Website and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole
  • Utilizing cookies to record session information, passwords, and the profile of subscribed clients at a site to provide better service when visitors return to our Website
  • Using the information we collect to study how this Website is used, so that we may improve and enhance your experience on our Website

What types of Cookies do we use?

There are a number of different types of cookies. Session cookies last only as long as you remain on the Website; others, called persistent cookies, may be stored for longer periods of time.  These cookies can make browsing easier by storing your password or your preferences regarding how you use the Website.

  • Essential/Strictly Necessary Cookies – Essential cookies are necessary to enable us to provide our services. They are also required for you to navigate through the Website and web application and benefit from all the available functions. These cookies cannot be switched off.
  • Analytical Cookies – Analytical cookies aid us in understanding how you interact with our Website. This helps us create statistics of usage on the Website to help us understand how the Website is performing and whether there are any technical issues.
  • Functional/Personalization Cookies – We use functional cookies so that we recognize you on our Website and remember your previously selected preferences to provide a more personalized experience. These could include what language you prefer and location you are in.
  • Advertising Cookies – Advertising cookies collect information about your visit to our Website, the content you viewed, the links you followed and information about your browser, device. Our Company sometimes shares limited aspects of this data with third parties for advertising purposes.

How to Manage Cookies

In certain jurisdictions, when you access our Website, you will be prompted with a cookie banner which will permit you to adjust your cookie settings. In addition to the banner, you may change your cookie settings by clicking on the cookie icon found on our Website.

You can set your browser not to accept cookies.  If you would like to learn how to opt out of cookies using your browser settings, click here. To learn how to manage privacy and storage settings for cookies, click here.

If you reject cookies, you may still use our Website, although it is possible that some areas of our Website will not function properly if you do so. Particularly, you may not be able to place orders or review results without accepting cookies. We do not provide this information to outside parties other than for such reasons. No personal information is stored in cookies.

What other important privacy information is applicable?

Policy Regarding Children

Our Website is not directed toward nor intended for the use of children. We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from children without parental consent, unless permitted by law.  If we become aware that we have collected personal information from children without parental consent (or as permitted by law), we will delete it.  If you believe that a child may have provided us with personal information without such parental consent, please contact us.

Accuracy

We understand the importance of accurate data, and we have legal obligations to ensure our screening results are accurate. Most of the personal information collected will come directly from you, so we deem such information accurate.  When we collect personal information from other sources, each source is responsible for the accuracy of the information. If we find out your personal information/data is inaccurate we will correct any inaccuracies. To ask for correction of your personal information, contact us.

Disclosure of your Information

In certain situations, Accurate may disclose information to third parties in response to a legal request. If we are required by a court order, warrant, subpoena, or other enforceable demand to produce personal information we will comply as required by law. Prior to providing any personal information, we will make reasonable efforts, if permitted by law, to notify you and obtain your consent prior to providing such information.  If personal information was collected from or on behalf of a client, we will consult with the client if permitted by law.

Security

We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to guard the personal information you provide to us. Our products and/or services online are transmitted through a secured socket layer (SSL) transmission. Furthermore, we have security protocols and measures in place to protect the personal information we maintain about you from unauthorized access or alteration. These measures include internal and external firewalls, physical and technological security measures, and encryption of certain information (including login credentials). No method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. If you have any questions about security on our Website, please contact us.

How do we transfer personal data and information globally or across borders?

Accurate Background, LLC complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF), the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Swiss-U.S. DPF) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Accurate Background, LLC and its U.S. subsidiaries, Accurate Employment Screening, LLC and Hirease, LLC dba AccurateNow has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) regarding the processing of personal data received from the European Union in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and from the United Kingdom (and Gibraltar) in reliance on the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF. Accurate Background has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles) regarding the processing of personal data received from Switzerland in reliance on the Swiss-U.S. DPF. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles and/or the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program, and to view our certification, please visit www.dataprivacyframework.gov.

Accurate is responsible for the processing of personal data we receive, under the DPF, and subsequent transfers to a third party acting as an agent on our behalf. Accurate complies with the DPF for all onward transfers of personal data and processes such data consistent with the DPF.

Please contact us  should you have a Data Privacy Framework related (or general privacy-related) complaint.  If you have an unresolved privacy or data use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily or we have not timely responded or acknowledged your concerns, please contact our  U.S.-based third-party dispute resolution provider, JAMS. (free of charge).

If you have complaints regarding the DPF that have not been resolved by other DPF mechanisms, you have the possibility to invoke binding arbitration.

Accurate employees – In compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF and the Swiss-U.S. DPF, Accurate commits to cooperate and comply respectively with the advice of the panel established by the EU data protection authorities (DPAs) and the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) with regard to unresolved complaints concerning our handling of human resources data received in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF and the Swiss-U.S. DPF in the context of the employment relationship.

Additional Information for Individuals in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland and the United Kingdom

In addition to the disclosures made elsewhere in this privacy policy with respect to our privacy practices, our legal basis for processing personal data we collect in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK, can vary depending on the manner in which you use our Website or otherwise engage with us. Our legal basis for processing information that we collect about you through our Website is our legitimate interest as a data controller to administer our Website.  In cases where you are asked to provide your consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time, although this will not affect the lawfulness of our processing prior to your withdrawal of consent.  In the case of processing involving passive data collection and other processing for the administration of our Website, such processing is undertaken pursuant to our legitimate interests as a data controller, including the operation of our Website. We may process personal data where necessary for our compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject. We also reserve the right to process personal data in the event we believe doing so is necessary to protect the rights of the data subject or another person.

Additional Information for Individuals in United Kingdom (UK)

As an organization using Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to provide our services, Accurate Background complies fully with the codes of practice regarding the correct handling, use, storage, retention and disposal of certificate information. Certificate information is only used for the specific purpose for which it was requested and for which the applicant’s full consent has been given. Certificate information is stored securely. Once the retention period has elapsed, we will ensure that any DBS certificate information is immediately destroyed by secure means. Certificate information is only passed to those who are authorized to receive the information. We maintain a record of all those to whom the certificate information has been revealed, and it is a criminal offense to pass this information to anyone who is not entitled to receive it.

Additional Information for Individuals in Brazil

In addition to the disclosures made elsewhere in this privacy policy with respect to our privacy practices, our legal basis for processing personal data we collect in Brazil can vary depending on the way you use our Website or otherwise engage with us. Our legal basis for processing information that we collect about you through our Website is our legitimate interest as a data controller to administer our Website.  In the case of processing involving passive data collection and other processing for the administration of our Website, such processing is undertaken pursuant to our legitimate interests as a data controller, including the operation of our Website. We may process personal data where necessary for our compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject. We also reserve the right to process personal data in the event we believe doing so is necessary to protect the rights of the data subject or another person.  In cases where you are asked to provide your consent, you can decline to provide it, although you may not be able to proceed with your application or other activity for which consent was requested.  In cases where you provide consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time, although processing carried out under previously given consent remains valid unless you request deletion of the data.

Under Article 18 of Brazil’s General Law for Data Protection (LGPD), individuals have certain rights with respect to personal data about them that is being processed by controllers, including: confirmation of the existence of processing; access to personal data about them; correction of incomplete, inaccurate or out of date data; anonymization, blocking or deletion of data that is unnecessary, excessive or not processed in accordance with the LGPD; data portability; deletion of personal data; and information about third parties with whom the controller has shared personal data to the extent these are required by law.  In cases where we are acting as a processor, rather than a controller, we may need to refer your request to the controller.

If you have any questions about our privacy practices, please contact our Vice-President of Compliance using the contact information below.  You have the right to object to the processing of personal data about you and the right to file a complaint with Brazilian data protection and consumer defense authorities if you have concern about the way we are processing your personal data.

Additional Information for Individuals in California

The California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act  provide certain rights to California residents(collectively referred to as “CCPA” for the purposes of this privacy policy).  However, the CCPA provides an exception for information gathered and processed under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”).  Most of the personal information we collect is for the purpose of providing a background report under the FCRA.  In those circumstances, we will process and store your information in accordance with our obligations under the FCRA (or the equivalent state law).   The FCRA provides you with the opportunity to request a disclosure and/or reinvestigation when applicable.

While the CCPA provides the exception for data collected under the FCRA, the CCPA will still apply to California residents who are users of our Website, Accurate employees or Accurate customers.  Accurate does not sell your personal information, although Accurate may share your information.  Please refer to the sections regarding how we collect, use, share, and store your information for more information regarding the use of personal information.

Unless there is an FCRA exemption or Accurate is acting as a service provider or processor, California residents have the following rights:

  • Right to know what categories of personal data have been collected and disclosed, sold or shared within the past 12 months
  • Right to access your personal data
  • Right to request a deletion of certain personal data unless such data is subject to an exemption or Accurate is acting as service provider or processor
  • Right to equal services and non-discrimination
  • Request we do not sell or share your information

Changes to our privacy policy

Accurate Background will revise or update this privacy policy on occasion to reflect changes to our practices. If we make any material changes, we will provide notification through our Website prior to the change taking effect. You should refer back to this page for the latest information. The date at the start of this privacy policy will be updated any time a change is made.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about Accurate’s privacy policy, the personal data we have stored, or you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Email us at:  customer_service@accurate.com

Call us: 800.784.3911

Or write to us at:  200 Spectrum Center Drive, Suite 1100, Irvine, CA 92618

If you have any questions about our privacy practices, please contact our Vice-President of Compliance using the contact information below.  You also have the right to file a complaint with your data protection authority if you have a concern about the way we are processing your personal data.

Vice President Compliance

Accurate Background

200 Spectrum Center Drive, Suite 1100

Irvine, CA 92618

800.784.3911

customer_service@accurate.com

 

How to contact the appropriate authorities?

Should you wish to report a complaint or if you feel that Accurate has not addressed your concern in a satisfactory manner, you may contact your relevant supervisory authority, local data protection authority, or the Federal Trade Commission.