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How The Plan Collects, Uses and Discloses Personal Information
What information do we keep?
We collect and store non-public personal
information. It comes from a variety of sources such as the
applications or other forms that you complete (for example,
your name, your Social Insurance number, and your address),
from your employers, or from correspondence with you and
service providers you have engaged to provide medical or other
benefits. We collect only the information we need for the
purpose of providing and servicing health benefit and
retirement programs we administer on your behalf.
In order to provide certain benefits, we
may be required by legislation (such as the Pension Benefits
Standards Act) to collect and store your Social Insurance
Number.
We do not sell your personal
information.
Why
do we need the information?
We need to collect personal
information to:
- determine
your eligibility for benefits,
- administer
and adjudicate your benefits,
- determine
the cost and financially manage these programs,
- meet
regulatory or contractual requirements relating to the
benefits and related services provided to you.
We will make sure you understand why we
need the information by using clear, understandable language
when describing the purpose.
We
will obtain your permission
We collect, use or disclose your
personal information with your permission. Your permission may
be expressed in writing or be implied and you may give it to
us verbally, electronically, or through your authorized
representative.
With reasonable notice, and subject to legal and contractual
restrictions, you may withdraw your permission to
collect, use and disclose your personal information at any
time.
We will obtain your consent to collect or release medical
information about you.
Before we make information available to third parties, other
than an agent or authorized service provider who needs it, we
will tell you at the time we obtain your consent or before we
make the information available, who those persons or
organizations are, the kind of information we want to share
with them and why.
Of course, you can choose not to provide
us with some or all of your personal information. However,
this choice may hinder our ability to adjudicate any claims
you have for benefits to which you may be entitled.
How
long do we keep information?
We will keep your personal information
as long as it is necessary, or as required by law. When
personal information records are destroyed, we will use
appropriate safeguards to
prevent unauthorized parties from gaining access to the
information during the process.
The Plan Will
Protect Your Personal Information
We
are responsible for your information
We are responsible for all personal
information in our possession; including information
transferred to a third party service provider or agent
so that we can provide you with benefits and related
services.
How
we protect information
Only the Plan Administrator's employees, the Trustees of the
Plan, Plan sponsors, agents and authorized service
providers who need it to do their jobs may access your
personal information. Where possible,
when we provide information to third parties
such as actuaries, we attempt to eliminate any references that
allow identification of the individuals. We require all
employees, agents and authorized service providers to comply
with this Privacy Policy.
We have developed and are continuing to
enhance security procedures to safeguard and protect personal
information against loss, theft, unauthorized disclosure,
copying, and unauthorized use or modification. We will
maintain appropriate safeguards and security procedures that
reflect the types of documents, including electronic or paper
records, organizational measures including security clearances
and limiting access on a "need-to-know" basis, and
technological measures such as the use of passwords and
encryption. While we endeavour to protect all information, the
most sensitive information, such as medical information,
receives the highest level of protection.
For telephone inquiries to the Plan's Benefit Administration
staff, the information provided varies based on
the relationship of the person making the inquiry to the Plan Member
(e.g., authorized service provider, Plan Member, or
dependent). After the caller has been screened for appropriate
identification, only information pertaining to the specific
claim, treatment, or benefit in question is shared.
Your
Right to Access Your Personal Information
Your
rights
You have the right to ask whether we
hold any personal information about you. You have the right to
see that
information, as provided by law. Where we have obtained
medical information about you from a third party, we will
release this information only through your permission.
You also have the right to know:
- how
we collected your personal information,
- how
we are using it,
- and to
whom it may have been disclosed.
How
to request an update or correction
If you believe any of the information we
have collected about you is incorrect or incomplete, you have
the right to ask us to change it.
You may make a request to change the Plan's records about you by writing to our Privacy Officer, at:
Attention: Privacy Officer
Millworkers Health & Welfare Plan (Unifor)
160 – 4400
Dominion Street
Burnaby,
British Columbia
V5G 4G3
If you show that your personal
information is inaccurate or incomplete, we will make the
necessary changes, and where appropriate, we will contact any
third parties with whom this information has been shared.
How to register complaints
If you feel we have not dealt with your request to your
satisfaction, you may register a privacy-related complaint by
contacting the Plan's Privacy Officer. We will explain our
complaint procedure to you and investigate all complaints.
If a complaint is justified, the Trustees will take all
appropriate steps to set the situation right, including
changing our policies and practices if necessary. We will also
let you know what other complaint procedures may be available
to you.
We reserve the right to revise our privacy policy as needed.
If changes are made, the new policy will be posted on the
Plan's web site: www.Uniforbenefits.org.
A copy can also be obtained by contacting the Plan's Privacy
Officer.
Web Site Policy
This Web site does not automatically gather any specific
personal information from you, such as your name, phone number
or e-mail address. We would only obtain this type of
information if you supply it by sending us an e-mail or
registering in a secure portion of the site.
We employ software programs to
monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to
upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. This
software receives and records the Internet Protocol (IP)
address of the computer that has contacted our Web site, the
date and time of the visit and the pages visited. We make no
attempt to link these addresses with the identity of
individuals visiting our Web site unless an attempt to damage
the Web site has been detected.
We occasionally uses
"cookies" to track how our visitors use this site or
to determine sites previously visited. The cookies we use do
not allow us to identify individuals. They are compiled into
statistical information on traffic patterns and are used to
assess site efficiency. If this site is using
cookies that collect personal information, a notice will
appear on the site advising of such use and you will be
provided with an opportunity to refuse them. Such refusal will
not affect the site performance or restrict your ability to
access information from this site. (A "cookie" is a
file that may be placed on your hard drive without your
knowledge by a web site to allow it to monitor your use of the
site.)
Visitor information is not disclosed to anyone exUnifort the
Plan's Benefit Administration personnel who need the information to carry out
responsibilities of their job. Any further disclosure of the
personal information you give us will be in accordance with
the Plan's Privacy Policy.
External Service Providers
In order to effectively operate its Web site, the Plan uses external service providers. These
service providers are bound by a contract with the Plan to
treat any personal information they may receive in a manner
that is consistent with the provisions of the Plan's Privacy
Policy.
For More Information
For more information, please contact our
Privacy Officer at 604-299-7482 (if you are located outside the Lower Mainland of
British Columbia, call 1-800-663-1356) or by email.
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