Why William Joynt Investigations Collects and Discloses Personal Information
William Joynt Investigations collects and discloses personal information to enable our instructing principals to satisfy themselves with respect to issues relevant to their personal or corporate needs. It also includes collecting and disclosing personal information about third parties with respect to claims made against these clients.
The Kinds of Personal Information William Joynt Investigations Collects
The type of information William Joynt Investigations collects depends upon the type and nature of the investigation required. This may include previous claims history, financial, medical health or employment information. We may seek validation information from retailers, wholesalers and suppliers of goods and services. In appropriate cases we may also seek information from authorities such as the Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Labour, Office of the Fire Marshal, Police and Fire Services, Municipalities, Towns and Cities.
How William Joynt Investigations Obtains Personal Information
In most cases, personal information is collected directly from the client or their agents or a third party making a claim against our principal.
Personal information may also be collected from involved parties such as public officials (Fire Department, Police, Office of the Fire Marshal) witnesses, other private investigators, credit bureaus, title searchers and the like. The organizations with which we deal are subject to their own privacy codes and we respect those codes.
In some cases, William Joynt Investigations, or those we entrust with specific services, will infer such consent where appropriate. If an instructing principal tells William Joynt Investigations that they have consent to collect information, we will rely on that instructing principal’s advice. Consent may not be obtained with respect to the collection of certain publicly available information. If information is collected with respect to an investigation involving a suspected breach of contract (or other agreement) or breach of Canadian law, then consent may not be obtained.
William Joynt Investigations Disclosure of Personal Information
William Joynt Investigations discloses personal information, including to its affiliated companies, only for the reasons listed above or if required to do so by law. The majority of information is disclosed or transferred solely to our instructing principals. However, in order to collect the information required by our principals, we may disclose personal information to third party service providers. This would include (and is not limited to) insurer’s, insurance brokers, insurance adjusters, automobile repair companies, contractors, construction companies, investigators, engineers, accountants, lawyers, and others. We may also disclose personal information to authorities with jurisdiction such as Fire Departments, Fire Marshals, Police and other Federal, Provincial or Municipal authorities for the purposes of verifying the circumstances surrounding a breach of agreement or a breach of a law. We obtain consent to disclosure when required. Consent may also be inferred where appropriate. If an instructing principal advises us that they have their client’s consent to disclose information, we will rely on our instructing principals advice.
Where William Joynt Investigations discloses personal information to an approved investigative body (such as the Insurance Crime Prevention Bureau) or when we believe that the information relates to the breach of an insurance policy or other agreement or Canadian law, or where we are required by law to disclose the information, consent may not be obtained. Similarly, if personal information is disclosed to a lawyer for claims purposes or to obtain legal advice, consent may not be obtained.
How William Joynt Investigations Ensures the Security of Personal Information
Personal information recorded in documents is securely stored at William Joynt Investigations’s offices and its employee’s offices in Canada and at offices of William Joynt Investigations affiliated companies. Electronically recorded information is stored on computer systems maintained by William Joynt Investigations and affiliated companies. These computer systems and the information stored in them are protected by electronic security systems.
William Joynt Investigations and its affiliated companies restrict access to personal information and our employees, contractors and representatives are under obligation to access personal information only when they have a legitimate business need to do so. William Joynt Investigations employees receive training with respect to proper personal information handling practices and they are under obligation to comply with the privacy laws, this policy and related codes of conduct.
William Joynt Investigations compliance with appropriate personal information practices and privacy laws is overseen by and is the responsibility of our Privacy Officer.
Accuracy and Access to Personal Information
William Joynt Investigations is committed to the accuracy and completeness of its personal information it uses or discloses to its instructing principals.
Upon written request and subject to the following (and any other reasonable conditions which may be necessary) we will provide reasonable access to personal information exclusively to the individual to whom it refers. We will not provide access in any of the following circumstances:
If doing so would likely reveal personal information about a third party;
If the information is subject to solicitor-client privilege;
If revealing the information would reveal confidential commercial information;
If revealing the information could affect the security of another person;
If the information relates to the actual or suspected breach of an insurance policy or other agreement or the breach of a Canadian law, or;
If the information was generated in the course of a formal dispute resolution process;
Where William Joynt Investigations is acting as agent another instructing principal where that principal has the responsibility to respond to access to personal information.
Amendments
William Joynt Investigations may amend this policy from time to time at its discretion. A current version of this privacy policy is available on William Joynt Investigations main web site at www.bjoynt.com