Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and what this policy covers

Desmata Inc. is the business responsible for the personal information described in this policy (the "controller" under state privacy laws). Our contact details are: Desmata Inc., 5151 Headquarters Dr., Suite 140, Plano, TX 75024, United States; email info@desmata.com; telephone +1 (214) 407-8089.

This policy covers personal information collected through the Site, through the contact, hire-talent and job application forms on the Site, through email and telephone conversations that follow from them, and through our recruiting activities in the United States.

It does not cover websites, platforms or services run by other companies, even if the Site links to them, including job boards, social networks and the websites of our clients. Those companies have their own privacy policies.

When Desmata delivers technology or staffing services to a business client and handles personal information on that client's behalf (for example data inside a client system our consultants support), we act as a service provider or processor for that client. That processing is governed by our contract with the client and by the client's own privacy notice, not by this policy.

2. Information we collect

The personal information we collect depends on how you interact with us. We collect only what we need for the purposes described in this policy.

Information you give us

• Contact and hire-talent enquiries: your name, email address, telephone number (optional), company, job title, the service or industry you are interested in and the message you write.
• Job applications and the talent network: your first and last name, email address, telephone number, city and state, LinkedIn or portfolio address, work authorization status, years of experience, notice period or availability, expected pay rate or salary, any cover note and your resume or CV file (PDF, DOC or DOCX).
• Information in your resume or messages: anything you choose to include, such as your employment history, education, skills, certifications, references and professional achievements. Please do not include information we do not need, such as your Social Security number, date of birth, bank details, health information, photographs or details of your race, religion or other protected characteristics.
• Later in the recruiting process, and only if you move forward for a specific role: information needed to submit you to a client, arrange interviews, make an offer and onboard you, such as references, right-to-work documents, tax forms and payroll details. We collect these through separate, secure processes and tell you at the time what we need and why.

Information we collect automatically

• Technical and security data: your IP address, browser type, device type, the pages you request, the date and time of each request and the referring page. Our servers and hosting providers record this to deliver the Site, keep it secure, prevent spam and abuse, and diagnose problems.
• Form security data: when you submit a form, we check a short-lived security token and may count recent submissions from your IP address so that automated abuse can be blocked. If we enable a bot-protection service such as Cloudflare Turnstile, that service may process technical information about your browser to tell people from automated programs.

Information from other sources

• Job boards and professional networks, when you have made your profile or resume available to recruiters there (for example LinkedIn, Dice, Indeed or Monster).
• People who refer you to us, such as a colleague or a former manager.
• Our clients, when they share feedback on interviews or on your work during an assignment.
• References you name, and, only with your separate written authorization, background screening companies (see section 6).
• Publicly available professional information, such as a published portfolio or open-source contributions you point us to.

Sensitive information

Some information may be considered sensitive under state privacy laws. In particular, your work authorization status may reveal citizenship or immigration status. We collect it only because US employers must confirm that a person is authorized to work in the United States, we ask for your consent when you submit an application, and we use it only for recruiting, placement and legal compliance. We do not ask for, and ask you not to provide, other sensitive information such as health data, precise location, biometric data or information about racial or ethnic origin, religion or sexual orientation, unless the law requires it and we have explained why.

3. Cookies and similar technologies

The public pages of the Site do not use advertising cookies, cross-site tracking or third-party analytics. We do not use pixels, tags or fingerprinting to track you across other websites.

The Site uses only technology that is strictly necessary for it to work:

• A session cookie for Desmata staff who sign in to the administration area. It is not set for ordinary visitors.
• Short-lived security tokens on our forms, used to block automated and repeated submissions.
• If enabled, a bot-protection challenge provided by Cloudflare, which may use its own strictly necessary cookies or local storage.

Because we do not use cookies for advertising or analytics, there is nothing to switch off. If we add analytics or any non-essential cookie in the future, we will update this policy first and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent.

Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track: we do not sell personal information or use it for targeted advertising, so a Global Privacy Control signal has nothing to opt you out of today. If that changes, we will honor Global Privacy Control signals as a valid request to opt out of sale, sharing and targeted advertising. Browsers' older Do Not Track setting has no agreed standard; for the same reason, it does not change how the Site behaves.

4. How we use personal information

We use personal information for the following purposes:

• To respond to enquiries: to reply to your message, understand your needs, prepare proposals and follow up on a conversation you started.
• To provide our services: to deliver staffing, recruiting, consulting and technology services to our clients, and to manage our relationship with them.
• To recruit and place candidates: to review your application, assess your skills and experience against open roles, contact you about the role you applied for and similar roles, arrange interviews, submit your profile to a client (only with your agreement, see section 5), make offers and onboard you.
• To keep a talent network: if you join our talent network or apply for a role, to keep your profile so that we can contact you about future opportunities that match your experience. You can ask us to remove you at any time.
• To communicate with you: by email or telephone about your enquiry or application, and, where you have agreed, by text message.
• To operate, secure and improve the Site: to deliver pages, prevent fraud, spam and abuse, keep systems secure, fix problems and understand which parts of the Site need improvement.
• To meet legal obligations: to comply with employment, tax, immigration, equal employment opportunity and record-keeping laws, respond to lawful requests from authorities and enforce our agreements.
• To protect rights and safety: to investigate and defend legal claims, and to protect the rights, property and safety of Desmata, our clients, candidates and the public.

We will not use your personal information for a purpose that is not reasonably necessary for, or compatible with, the purposes described here without telling you and, where required, asking for your consent.

Recruiting tools and automated processing

Our recruiters may use software, including search and matching tools, to find and organize candidate profiles that fit an open role. These tools help people work faster; they do not make decisions. A Desmata recruiter reviews candidates, and hiring decisions are made by people at Desmata or at our client. We do not make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you based solely on automated processing.

5. How we share personal information

We do not sell personal information, we do not share it for cross-context behavioral or targeted advertising, and we have not done so in the past 12 months. We share personal information only as described below.

• With clients and prospective employers: when you are a candidate for a role, we share your resume and relevant details with the client that is hiring. We submit a candidate to a client only after we have discussed the role with that candidate and the candidate has agreed. A client that receives your information uses it under its own privacy policy and its agreement with us.
• With service providers: we use companies that process information on our behalf and under our instructions, such as cloud hosting and database providers, email and productivity services (for example Microsoft 365), security and bot-protection services, applicant tracking and recruiting tools, and, for people we place, payroll, benefits, background screening and employment verification providers. They are allowed to use the information only to provide services to us and must protect it.
• With professional advisers: lawyers, accountants, auditors and insurers, where needed for their services to us.
• For legal reasons: when we believe in good faith that disclosure is required by law, subpoena or court order, or is needed to protect the rights, property or safety of Desmata, our clients, candidates or others, or to prevent fraud.
• In a business transfer: if Desmata is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization or sale of all or part of its business, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this policy or a policy that is at least as protective.
• With your consent: in any other case where you have asked us to share your information or agreed that we may.

6. Additional information for job candidates

Equal employment opportunity

Desmata is an equal opportunity employer. We consider candidates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. Where a client or the law requires us to invite voluntary self-identification (for example for federal contractor reporting), providing that information is optional, it is kept separate from your application and it is never used to make a decision about you.

Background checks

Some clients require background checks, drug screening or employment and education verification before a placement. If a role requires one, we will tell you before anything happens, give you the disclosures required by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and any applicable state law, and ask for your separate written authorization. Background reports are prepared by a consumer reporting agency, not by Desmata, and you have the right to receive a copy and to dispute inaccurate information.

Work authorization and E-Verify

US law requires employers to verify the identity and work authorization of new employees using Form I-9, and some employers, including Desmata where applicable, also use the federal E-Verify system. We collect identity and work authorization documents only after an offer, and only as required for that process.

Accuracy of your information

Please make sure the information you give us is accurate and up to date, and tell us if it changes. You are responsible for having the right to share any information about other people you include, such as references.

Beware of recruiting scams

Desmata never charges candidates a fee to apply, interview or be placed, never asks for payment for equipment or training, and never asks for bank account details, your Social Security number or copies of identity documents before a formal offer. Our recruiters contact you from an @desmata.com email address. If you receive a suspicious message that claims to be from Desmata, please do not respond to it; forward it to info@desmata.com so we can look into it.

7. Email, telephone and text messages

If you contact us or apply for a role, we will reply by email and, if you gave us a telephone number, we may call you about your enquiry or application.

We send text messages only to people who have agreed to receive them, for example to arrange an interview. Message and data rates may apply. You can stop text messages at any time by replying STOP, and you can ask for help by replying HELP or by emailing us. We do not share mobile numbers or text messaging consent with third parties for their own marketing.

If we send you marketing emails, for example news about our services, each message will include a way to unsubscribe, and we will honor your request promptly. Messages about an enquiry or application you are part of are not marketing and may still be sent while the conversation is active.

8. How long we keep personal information

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purposes in this policy, including to meet legal, accounting and reporting requirements. As a general guide:

• Job applications and talent network profiles: for the period required by employment record-keeping laws (generally at least one year from the date of the application, or two years where federal contractor rules apply), and in any case for no more than three years after your last activity with us. Your last activity is the latest of: you applying for a role, you updating your details, our recruiters recording a call, email or interview with you, or you asking us to keep your profile. Three years after that date we delete your profile automatically, including your resume and application history. You can ask us to delete your profile sooner; see section 10.
• Before an automatic deletion: about 30 days before the date, we email you a notice with a Keep my profile link. If you choose it, we keep your profile for three more years from that day. We send this notice even if you have asked us to stop status emails about your applications, because it is about your personal information. We may keep a profile longer only where the law requires it, for example during a legal claim, or where you have an ongoing or recent placement with us.
• Information about people we place: for the length of the assignment or employment and afterwards for the periods required by tax, payroll, immigration and employment laws.
• Business enquiries and client contact details: for as long as we have an active or prospective business relationship, and then for up to three years.
• Technical and security logs: for a short period, normally no more than 90 days, unless we need them longer to investigate a security incident or abuse.

When information is no longer needed, we delete it or make it anonymous. Deleting an application also deletes the resume file attached to it. We keep a short record that a deletion happened, which does not contain your name, email address or resume. We make encrypted daily backups of our systems to protect against data loss; information deleted from our systems is removed from these backups as they age out, normally within about eight weeks.

9. How we protect personal information

We use administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information against loss, theft and unauthorized access, use or disclosure. They include:

• Encryption of data in transit to and from the Site using HTTPS.
• Resume files stored outside the public web root, so they cannot be opened from the internet. They are available only to authorized Desmata staff who are signed in.
• Access limited by role, so staff see only the information they need for their work, with strong password hashing and activity logging in our administration area.
• Checks on uploaded files, limits on repeated form submissions and other protections against automated abuse.
• Contracts with service providers that require them to protect the information they handle for us.

No method of transmission over the internet or method of storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we learn of a security breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by applicable law, including the Texas Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act.

Please help protect yourself by not sending sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers or financial account details, by ordinary email or through our website forms.

10. Your privacy rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights over your personal information. Residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws, including Texas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Oregon, Utah and other states, have rights under those laws when the law applies to the business. We extend these rights to everyone who contacts us, wherever they live in the United States, to the extent we reasonably can.

• Access and know: to confirm whether we process your personal information, and to receive a copy of it and information about how we use and share it.
• Correction: to ask us to correct inaccurate personal information.
• Deletion: to ask us to delete personal information we hold about you, subject to legal exceptions (for example records we must keep by law).
• Portability: to receive personal information you gave us in a portable and, where technically feasible, readily usable format.
• Opt out: to opt out of the sale of personal information, targeted advertising and profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects. We do not do any of these.
• Limit or withdraw consent: to withdraw consent you gave us, for example to the processing of sensitive information, or to receiving text messages. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that happened before, and it may mean we can no longer consider you for roles.
• Non-discrimination: we will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.

How to make a request

Email info@desmata.com with the subject "Privacy request", or write to us at the address in section 1. Tell us which right you want to use and give us enough information to find your records, such as your name, the email address you used and the role you applied for. We do not charge a fee for requests, unless they are manifestly unfounded, excessive or repetitive.

To protect you, we will verify your identity before we act on a request, normally by confirming details through the email address or telephone number we already hold. We may ask for more information if we cannot verify you. You may use an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf; we may ask the agent for proof of authority and ask you to confirm your identity directly.

We will respond within 45 days of receiving your request. If we need more time, we may extend this by a further 45 days when the law allows, and we will tell you why.

Appeals

If we decline to act on your request, we will explain why. You may appeal our decision by emailing info@desmata.com with the subject "Privacy appeal" within a reasonable time after our response. We will respond to your appeal in writing within 60 days, explaining what we did and why. If your appeal is denied, you may contact your state attorney general. Texas residents can submit a complaint to the Office of the Texas Attorney General.

Other choices

• You can update your application details, or ask us to remove you from the talent network, at any time by emailing us.
• You can unsubscribe from marketing emails using the link in each message.
• You can stop text messages by replying STOP.

11. Additional information for California residents

This section applies to California residents, including job applicants, to the extent the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act ("CCPA"), applies to Desmata. It supplements the rest of this policy.

Categories of personal information we collect

In the past 12 months we have collected the following categories of personal information, from the sources described in section 2, for the business purposes described in section 4:

• Identifiers, such as name, email address, telephone number, postal address and IP address.
• Personal information described in California Civil Code section 1798.80(e), such as employment history and education.
• Characteristics of protected classifications, only where you volunteer them or where the law requires optional self-identification.
• Internet or other electronic network activity, such as technical data about your visits to the Site.
• Geolocation data, limited to the general location inferred from an IP address or the city and state you give us. We do not collect precise geolocation.
• Professional or employment-related information, such as your resume, skills, work authorization, availability and expected pay.
• Education information, such as degrees and certifications you list.
• Inferences drawn from the above, such as how well your experience matches a role.
• Sensitive personal information, limited to citizenship or immigration status as reflected in work authorization, used only for the purposes permitted by the CCPA.

We disclose each of these categories for business purposes to the recipients described in section 5 (clients and prospective employers, service providers, professional advisers and authorities where required). We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined in the CCPA, and we have no actual knowledge of selling or sharing the personal information of anyone under 16.

We use and disclose sensitive personal information only for purposes that do not require a right to limit under the CCPA, such as assessing eligibility for employment and complying with law. We keep each category for the periods described in section 8.

California residents have the rights to know, delete, correct and opt out described in section 10, and the right not to receive discriminatory treatment for exercising them. You can make a request by emailing info@desmata.com.

California's "Shine the Light" law lets California residents ask for information about disclosures of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We do not make such disclosures.

12. Children's privacy

The Site and our services are intended for adults and are not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16, and job applicants must be old enough to work in the role they apply for. If you believe a child has given us personal information, please contact us at info@desmata.com and we will delete it.

13. Where we process information

Desmata is based in the United States and the Site is intended for people in the United States. We store and process personal information in the United States. If you use the Site from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to, stored and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.

14. Third-party websites and services

The Site may link to websites and services operated by others, such as social networks, job boards and the websites of our clients. Logos and names of companies we have worked with are shown for information only. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those websites, and we encourage you to read their privacy policies.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, our services or the law. When we do, we will change the effective date at the top of this page. If we make a material change, such as using personal information for a new purpose, we will give you notice on the Site or by email before the change takes effect, and ask for your consent where the law requires it.

16. Contact us

If you have questions about this policy or how we handle personal information, or you want to make a request or a complaint, please contact us:

• Email: info@desmata.com
• Post: Desmata Inc., Attn: Privacy, 5151 Headquarters Dr., Suite 140, Plano, TX 75024, United States
• Telephone: +1 (214) 407-8089

If you need this policy in another format because of a disability, please contact us and we will provide it.