Applicant Privacy Notice

FOR CANDIDATES FOR EMPLOYMENT OR CONTRACTUAL SERVICES

Last updated: March 7, 2022

Scope of application

This privacy notice applies to the processing of personal data that Block (“we”, “us” or “our”) collects about candidates for employment or for contractual services (both referred to as “you”). For EU and AU residents, it also describes your data protection rights, including a right to object to some of the processing which Block carries out. More information about your rights, and how to exercise them, is set out in the Your Choices and Rights section. (For Chinese residents, it also describes how we collect, process and protect your personal data, your rights and how to exercise them.)

We also may provide you with additional information when we collect personal data, where we feel it would be helpful to provide relevant and timely information.

What information we collect about you

Personal identification and communication information: your name, home address, phone number; email address; date of birth, gender, national insurance number and immigration status;
Application-related information: resume/curriculum vitae (CV), cover letter, employment history, education history, qualifications and skills, reference contact information, position preferences, willingness to relocate, desired salary, interests and aspirations, and background screening information if relevant; and
Sensitive information: for example, information about your health and disabilities where we need to make any reasonable adjustments.

The above information is collected from a variety of sources, but mainly directly from you. You will usually provide this information as part of your application for employment. We may also obtain some information from third parties, for example, references from a previous employer, the outcome of interviews and assessments, tax authorities, or where we employ a third party to carry out a background check (where permitted by applicable law). In addition, further information about you may come from public sources, such as LinkedIn.

Why we collect, use and store this information

We collect, use and store your personal data for the reasons set out below.

Where this is necessary for Block to enter into a contract of employment with you.

To make informed decisions on recruitment and assess your suitability for the role.
To reimburse you for any agreed expenses incurred in the application process.

Where necessary to comply with a legal obligation.

To assess your suitability in connection with your engagement in a regulated role, where applicable.

Where necessary for Block’s legitimate interests, as listed below, and where our interests are not overridden by your data protection rights.

To improve our recruitment process and activities
To verify the details you have supplied and conduct pre-employment background checks;
To contact you about future career opportunities at Block.
Protecting our legitimate business interests and legal rights, including, use in connection with legal claims, compliance, regulatory, auditing and investigative (including disclosure of such information in connection with legal process or litigation) and other ethics and compliance reporting requirements.
To analyse and monitor the diversity of the workforce in accordance with applicable laws. This includes, for example, compliance with equal opportunity employment laws.

Where we require the information to enter into an employment contract with you, or where we are required under applicable employment, social security, social protection or other laws applicable to us, the provision of information is mandatory. Where you do not provide your personal data to us, then we would be unable to enter into a contract with you or we may need to withdraw our offer of employment for certain roles, such as regulated roles. All other provision of your information is optional. Where you do not provide the relevant data for in these circumstances, the consequences will be explained to you at the time.

Additional information regarding specific processing of personal data may be notified to you locally or as set out in applicable policies.

The sensitive or special categories of personal data that may be processed by us are set out below. Where applicable data protection laws require us to process such special categories of personal data on the basis of a specific lawful justification, we process the same under one of the following bases:

the processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising the rights of you or Block in the field of employment law, social security and social protection law, to the extent permissible under applicable laws;
the processing is necessary for the assessment of your working capacity, medical diagnosis, or the provision of health care or treatment, to the extent permitted by applicable laws;
the processing is necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health, such as protecting against serious cross-border threats to health or ensuring high standards of quality and safety of health care and of medicial products or medical devices;
the processing is necessary to protect your vital interests or of another person where you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent (for example, in exceptional situations such as a public health crisis or medical emergency); or
the processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.

Verification and background checks

For certain positions, it will be necessary for us to verify the details you have supplied (for example, in relation to your identity, employment history, academic qualification and professional credentials) and to conduct pre-employment background checks where legally permissible (for example, in relation to previous criminal convictions, financial standing, global watch lists, and sex offender registries). The level of checks will depend on your role, in particular whether you will occupy a regulated function, and will be conducted at as late a stage as is practicable in the recruitment process and often only after you have been selected for the position. If your application is successful, we will provide further information about the checks involved and will obtain any necessary consent prior to completing such checks.

How we share your personal data

We will share your personal data with other employees or contractors of Block to the extent required for the role for which you are applying or for the management of your employment or assignment.

Your personal data will be shared with companies providing services under contract to Block as part of the recruitment process, such as background checks.

Your personal data also will be shared with government authorities and/or law enforcement officials if required for the purposes above, if mandated by law, or if required for the protection of our legitimate interests in compliance with applicable laws.

In the event that a Block business is sold or integrated with another business, or Block obtains third-party financing, your details may be disclosed to our advisers and any prospective purchasers, lenders, and/or their advisers. In addition, in an acquisition in which a Block business is the purchaser, your details may be shared with the seller and/or its advisors.

How long we retain your personal data

If you are hired or engaged: we will retain your personal data only for as long as we need it for Block’s legitimate interest in accordance with applicable law, for the purposes of the recruitment process and, once this process is finished, for an appropriate period so as to be able to deal with any legal claims linked to the application process. After this period which we will take steps to delete your personal data or hold it in a form that no longer identifies you. If you become a Block employee, personal information you provide will become a part of your employee file and may be used later for the management of the employment relationship.

If you are not hired or engaged: we will retain your personal data for up to 2 years so we can keep you in mind for future recruitment or engagement processes. If you would prefer that we did not keep your details on file, please let us know.

Notice to UK, EU and AU Residents

Your choices and rights

You have the right to ask Block for a copy of your personal data; to correct, delete or restrict processing of your personal data; and to access/obtain the personal data you provide in a structured, machine readable format and also to require us to transmit it to another controller where this is technically feasible. In addition, you can object to the processing of your personal data in some circumstances (in particular, where we do not have to process the data to meet a contractual or other legal requirement). 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. Where we have asked for your consent, you may withdraw consent at any time. If you ask to withdraw your consent to Block processing your data, this will not affect any processing which has already taken place at that time.

These rights may be limited, for example if fulfilling your request would reveal personal data about another person, or if you ask us to delete information which we are required by law or have compelling legitimate interests to keep. If you have unresolved concerns, you have the right to complain to a data protection authority in the country where you reside or are employed.

For further information regarding your rights, or to exercise any of your rights, please contact privacy-eu@squareup.com or privacy-au@squareup.com

International transfers

UK and EU Residents

Your personal data will be processed in or accessed from jurisdictions outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) by members of Block and our service providers (e.g. screening providers) in jurisdictions that do not have equivalent data protection laws to those in the EEA for the purposes outlined above.

When we transfer your data to Block affiliates outside of the EEA we use an intra-company agreement containing European Commission-approved standard contractual clauses. When we transfer your data to organisations outside Block we use European Commission-approved standard contractual clauses to safeguard the transfer, unless we transfer personal data to a third party that has implemented Binding Corporate Rules or which uses the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, in which case we may rely on one of those mechanisms to safeguard the transfer. For further information, including how to obtain a copy of the documents used to protect your information, please contact us as described in the Contact Us section below.

AU Residents

We may disclose your personal information to a recipient located outside Australia. For example, this may include the following:

other members of Block, Inc. group companies;
our contracted services providers operating overseas; and
organisations operating overseas with whom we partner to provide goods and services and who are likely to be located in the United States.

If we do this, we will ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place to ensure the protection of your personal information pursuant to Australian Privacy Legislation.

Notice to Chinese Residents

Collection and Processing of Personal Data

If you provide us with personal data about other individuals (e.g. your spouse, domestic civil/partner, and/or dependents) (e.g. for emergency contact, benefits administration other necessary purposes), it is your responsibility to inform them of their rights with respect to such personal data and that you may disclose their personal data to us for these purposes. You are also responsible for obtaining the consent of these individuals (unless you can provide such consent on their behalf) if such consent is required by applicable Chinese laws for the collection, use, storage, international transfer, and processing of their personal data.

Your bank details, health and medical condition, and finger prints might be identified as sensitive personal data under applicable Chinese laws. We will process the above sensitive personal data only for purposes as specified in the “Why we collect, use and store this information” section of this privacy notice.

Sharing of Personal Data

We may share your personal data with other entities and for purposes as described under “How we share your personal data” section of this privacy notice.

If it is necessary for us to transfer personal data in case of a merger, division, dissolution, declaration of bankruptcy, or other reasons, we will notify you of the name and contact information of the recipient. The recipient shall comply with this privacy notice when processing your personal data.

Cross-border Transfer of Personal Data

Block is a global company, which owns entities in multiple countries and regions. For purposes as described in the “Why we collect, use and store this information” section of this privacy notice, we may share your personal data with the following entities outside of China:

other members of the Block Inc. group of companies;
our contracted service providers operating overseas; and
organizations operating overseas with whom we partner to provide goods and services and who are likely to be located in the United States.

We will use lawful cross-border transfer mechanism to transfer your personal data overseas and adopt necessary measures to ensure the overseas recipients can provide the same level of protection as required under applicable Chinese laws.

Retention of Your Personal Data

We retain your personal data for as long as it is necessary to accomplish the purposes for which it was collected as described in the privacy notice, unless otherwise required by applicable Chinese laws.

We maintain appropriate technical and organizational measures that allow us to protect the security and confidentiality of your personal data. In case a security incident occurs, we will take remediation actions immediately and notify relevant government authorities and affected employees, when required by applicable Chinese laws.

Monitoring and Use of IT Systems

We provide you with IT systems, tools, electronic devices and VPN (“Block IT Systems”) for use in carrying out company-related business. Considering that Block IT Systems are owned by Block, all data accessed, stored, or transmitted by you through such Block IT Systems may be processed by us. Block has the right to access, review, monitor, image, transfer overseas, search or delete any data or applications stored on Block IT Systems or access, monitor or search workplaces at any time for the purposes of human resources management, business operations, information and other security operations, internal investigations, audits and risk management, compliance with our legal obligations or any other lawful purposes.

Your Rights

For your personal data under our maintenance, you have relevant rights as permitted under applicable Chinese laws, for example:

Access your personal data. You have the right to access your personal data, except as provided by applicable laws and regulations;
Restriction or Objection. You may request us to restrict the use of your personal data or object to our use of your personal data under certain circumstances;
Correct your personal data. When you find any error about your personal data processed by us, you have the right to request us to make corrections; and
Delete your personal data. If our processing of personal data violates laws and regulations, or if we collect, use, or process personal data that is not covered in this privacy notice and without your consent (or without relying on other lawful basis as permitted under applicable Chinese laws), you can request us to delete your personal data.

If you want to exercise any of your rights, please contact us at privacy@squareup.com. We will contact you to process your request in a timely manner after verifying your identity.

Updates to this privacy notice

This privacy notice may be updated periodically. We will update the date at the top of this privacy notice accordingly and encourage you to check for changes to this privacy notice, which will be available at block.xyz/legal. On some occasions, we may also actively advise you of specific data handling activities or significant changes to this privacy notice, as required by applicable law.

10. Contact us

The data controller for your personal data will be the Block entity to whom you have applied. If you have questions about this privacy notice or wish to contact us for any reason in relation to our personal data processing, please contact privacy@squareup.com.