Privacy Policy

West End Workforce, Inc. ("West End Workforce," "we," "us," or "our") is a women-owned staffing and recruiting firm. We collect personal information to match candidates with employment opportunities and to serve our employer clients. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and what rights you have under applicable law.

This policy applies to information collected through our website, by phone, by email, through job applications, and through any other direct interaction with West End Workforce. It applies to both candidates and employers who interact with us.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not buy it. We use it only for the purposes described below.

We collect information directly from you and, in limited cases, from third-party sources when you have authorized those sources to share it with us.

Information you provide directly:

• Contact information (name, email address, phone number, mailing address)
• Professional information (resume, work history, education, certifications, skills, references)
• Job preferences (desired role, location, compensation range, employment type)
• Identification information required for employment eligibility verification (where legally required)
• Compensation history (where disclosure is legally permitted and voluntarily provided)
• Communications you send us by email, phone, web form, or any other channel
• Employer information (company name, hiring needs, role descriptions, budget range)

Information collected automatically when you visit our website:

• IP address and general geographic location
• Browser type, operating system, and device type
• Pages visited, time spent on pages, and links clicked
• Referring URL and exit pages
• Cookie identifiers (see Cookies section below)

Information from third parties:

• Background check and reference verification results (only with your explicit written consent)
• LinkedIn and other professional network profiles (only information you have made publicly available)
• Referrals from existing candidates or clients

We use your information only for the purposes for which it was collected or for closely related purposes you would reasonably expect.

For candidates:

• Evaluating your qualifications and matching you to suitable open roles
• Presenting your profile to employer clients (only with your knowledge and, where required by law, your explicit consent)
• Communicating with you about job opportunities, interview scheduling, and placement status
• Providing feedback on your resume, compensation expectations, and market positioning
• Completing employment-related paperwork and onboarding for contract placements
• Processing payroll and benefits administration for contractors employed through West End Workforce
• Maintaining our candidate database for future opportunities

For employer clients:

• Understanding your hiring needs and delivering qualified candidate shortlists
• Managing the search and placement process from intake to hire
• Invoicing and contract administration
• Communicating about active searches, market conditions, and the status of placements

For all users:

• Improving the functionality and content of our website
• Complying with applicable laws and regulations
• Protecting against fraud, unauthorized access, and legal liability
• Responding to legal requests from courts, regulators, or law enforcement

We do not use your personal information for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects without human review.

We share your information only in the following circumstances:

• Employer clients. We present candidate profiles to employers who have engaged us to fill a specific role. We do this only when we believe there is a genuine fit, and we do not submit a candidate's profile to any employer without the candidate's knowledge.
• Background and reference check providers. We engage third-party firms to conduct background checks and verify references when required for a placement. We do this only with your prior written consent.
• Payroll and benefits vendors. For contractors placed on assignment through West End Workforce, we share necessary employment information with our payroll processor, benefits administrators, and workers' compensation carriers.
• Technology service providers. We use software platforms for applicant tracking, email communication, document storage, and website analytics. These vendors access your information only to perform services on our behalf and are contractually prohibited from using it for any other purpose.
• Legal and regulatory compliance. We may disclose information when required by a valid legal process (court order, subpoena, regulatory demand), or when we have a good-faith belief that disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of West End Workforce, our clients, our candidates, or the public.
• Business transfers. In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our business, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you by prominent notice on our website if your information becomes subject to a materially different privacy policy.

We do not sell, rent, or lease your personal information to third parties for their own marketing or advertising purposes.

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, to comply with legal obligations, and to resolve disputes.

For active candidates, we retain your profile in our database while you are actively seeking employment and for a reasonable period afterward in case suitable opportunities arise. You may request deletion at any time (subject to legal retention obligations).

For employer contacts, we retain business contact information and engagement records for the duration of our business relationship and for a reasonable period thereafter.

Employment and payroll records for contract placements are retained for the period required by applicable federal and state law, which is generally a minimum of three to seven years depending on the record type.

Website analytics data is retained in aggregated and anonymized form after 26 months.

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. These include access controls, encrypted data transmission (TLS), secure credential storage, and restricted internal access on a need-to-know basis.

No method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, but we will notify affected individuals and applicable regulators promptly in the event of a data breach as required by law.

Depending on the state in which you reside, you may have some or all of the following rights regarding your personal information. We honor these rights for all individuals where applicable law requires it, and we extend them in good faith where it does not.

• Right to know / access. You may request a copy of the personal information we hold about you, including the categories of data, the purposes for which it is used, and the categories of third parties with whom it is shared.
• Right to correct. You may request that we correct inaccurate personal information we hold about you.
• Right to delete. You may request that we delete your personal information. We will honor this request subject to certain exceptions, including information we are required to retain by law, information necessary to complete a transaction you requested, and information we need to detect and prevent fraud.
• Right to data portability. You may request a copy of your personal information in a portable, machine-readable format where technically feasible.
• Right to opt out of sale or sharing. We do not sell or share your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. This right applies but there is nothing to opt out of at this time.
• Right to opt out of targeted advertising. We do not engage in targeted advertising using your personal information. If this changes, we will update this policy and provide opt-out mechanisms.
• Right to opt out of profiling. We do not subject you to automated profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects without human review.
• Right to non-discrimination. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights. Exercising your privacy rights will not affect your ability to receive services from us.
• Right to appeal. If we deny a privacy request, you have the right to appeal our decision. To appeal, contact us at the address below and we will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law.

To submit a privacy request, contact us at privacy@westendworkforce.com or by mail at the address in the Contact section below. We will respond within 45 days of receipt. We may extend this period by an additional 45 days where reasonably necessary and will notify you of any extension.

We may need to verify your identity before processing a request. We will not require you to create an account to submit a request, and we will not use the information you provide for verification for any other purpose.

You may designate an authorized agent to submit requests on your behalf. We will require written proof of authorization before acting on a request from an agent.

California residents - additional disclosures. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, California residents have the right to limit the use and disclosure of sensitive personal information (which includes precise geolocation, racial or ethnic origin, and biometric data). We do not use sensitive personal information for purposes beyond those permitted by law. Under California's Shine the Light law (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.83), California residents may request disclosure of any personal information we have shared with third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year. We do not share personal information with third parties for their own direct marketing purposes, so there is nothing to report. Regarding Do Not Track: our website does not currently respond to browser-level Do Not Track signals, as no uniform standard for interpreting these signals exists. We do, however, honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) opt-out signals as required under the CPRA.

West End Workforce operates across all 50 states and is committed to complying with applicable state privacy laws. The following table summarizes the primary state privacy laws relevant to our operations. If your state is listed, your rights under that law are described in the "Your State Privacy Rights" section above.

State privacy laws continue to evolve. We monitor legislative changes and update this policy as new laws take effect. If your state is not listed and you have questions about your rights, please contact us.

Note on employment data exemptions. Several state privacy laws include partial or full exemptions for personal information collected in an employment context (job applications, employment records, payroll data). West End Workforce complies with any applicable exemptions but extends good-faith privacy rights to candidates and employees to the extent practicable.

West End Workforce is headquartered in Houston, Texas, and our servers are located in the United States. If you access our website or submit personal information from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.

European Union and European Economic Area (GDPR). The EU General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation 2016/679) applies to the processing of personal data of individuals located in the EU and EEA, regardless of where the processing organization is based. We process personal information of EU/EEA residents on the following lawful bases:

• Contract performance. Processing necessary to place you in a role or fulfill a client engagement.
• Legitimate interests. Operating our recruitment business, maintaining business records, and communicating with clients and candidates about relevant opportunities -- provided those interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Compliance with legal obligations. Retaining employment and payroll records as required by applicable law.
• Consent. Where we rely on consent (e.g., for optional communications), you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

EU/EEA residents have the following rights under the GDPR: right of access (Article 15), right to rectification (Article 16), right to erasure (Article 17), right to restriction of processing (Article 18), right to data portability (Article 20), right to object (Article 21), and right not to be subject to solely automated decision-making with significant effects (Article 22). To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@westendworkforce.com. We respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority (your EU member state's data protection authority, or the relevant EEA equivalent).

For cross-border transfers of personal data from the EU/EEA to the United States, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission, or other lawful transfer mechanisms. Where we engage sub-processors that process EU/EEA personal data, we require them to maintain equivalent transfer safeguards.

United Kingdom (UK GDPR). The UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply to personal data of individuals in the United Kingdom. UK residents have the same rights as EU/EEA residents described above. For cross-border transfers from the UK, we rely on the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or the UK Addendum to EU SCCs, as applicable. UK residents may lodge complaints with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Canada (PIPEDA and Quebec Law 25). West End Workforce complies with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and Quebec's Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (Law 25, in effect September 2023). Canadian residents have the right to access personal information we hold about them, to challenge its accuracy, and to withdraw consent to its use (subject to legal and contractual obligations). Quebec residents have additional rights under Law 25, including the right to data portability and the right to be informed of automated decision-making. Privacy requests from Canadian residents will receive a response within 30 days.

All other international visitors. Regardless of where you are located, we apply the same minimum privacy standards described throughout this policy -- including rights to access, correct, and delete your personal information. We do not sell personal information of any visitor, domestic or international. If your country has specific data protection requirements not addressed above, please contact us and we will work to accommodate your request to the extent reasonably practicable.

Note on transfers. By submitting personal information through our website or communicating with us, you acknowledge that your information will be processed in the United States. We take appropriate safeguards to ensure that personal information transferred internationally receives a level of protection consistent with applicable law.

West End Workforce places candidates across healthcare, health technology, and related sectors. This section explains how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) apply to our operations.

Our role under HIPAA. West End Workforce is a staffing agency, not a covered entity under HIPAA. We are not a health plan, healthcare clearinghouse, or healthcare provider. However, when we place workers at hospitals, clinics, or other HIPAA-covered entities and, in doing so, create, receive, maintain, or transmit Protected Health Information (PHI) on behalf of those clients, we operate as a Business Associate under 45 CFR § 160.103. In those situations, we execute a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with the covered entity client before any PHI is accessed or transmitted. We maintain HIPAA-compliant safeguards for all PHI we handle as a business associate, including appropriate administrative, physical, and technical measures.

Candidate health and credentialing information. For candidates placed in healthcare, clinical, and health technology roles, West End Workforce collects health-related and credentialing information during the onboarding process. This collection is handled outside this website through our dedicated credentialing process, and candidates receive a separate Credentialing & Onboarding Privacy Disclosure at the time of collection that details exactly what is collected, why, and how it is used.

Regardless of channel, all candidate health data is governed by applicable employment law -- principally the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) -- rather than HIPAA's patient-privacy framework. We apply PHI-equivalent confidentiality standards: access is restricted to credentialing and placement staff on a need-to-know basis; data is shared with client facilities only to the extent required for the placement; it is never sold or used for any purpose unrelated to the placement; and it is retained only as long as legally required.

Patient PHI. West End Workforce does not collect, store, or process patient PHI in the ordinary course of its staffing business. Patient records, medical histories, and treatment information remain with the covered entity client. If we inadvertently receive patient PHI, we will handle it in accordance with our BAA obligations and applicable HIPAA requirements.

Placed workers and HIPAA compliance. Healthcare professionals placed by West End Workforce at covered entity clients are required to comply with HIPAA and any facility-specific privacy and security policies as a condition of their placement. Compliance obligations, including workforce training requirements under 45 CFR § 164.530(b), are addressed in the placement agreements between W|E, the worker, and the client facility.

Breach notification. Under HITECH (42 U.S.C. § 17931) and the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule (45 CFR §§ 164.400-414), we are required to notify covered entity clients, affected individuals, and, where applicable, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the event of a breach of unsecured PHI. We maintain an incident response plan and will fulfill all notification obligations within the timeframes required by law.

Questions about HIPAA. If you are a covered entity client with questions about our business associate obligations, or a candidate with questions about how your health-related employment information is handled, please contact us at privacy@westendworkforce.com.

Our website uses a limited number of cookies and similar tracking technologies to support basic site functionality and to understand how visitors use our site.

Essential cookies are required for the site to function (session management, security). You cannot opt out of essential cookies and continue to use the site.

Analytics cookies help us understand which pages are visited most frequently and how users navigate the site. We use this data in aggregate form only. You may opt out of analytics cookies by adjusting your browser settings or by using a browser extension that blocks tracking scripts.

We do not use advertising cookies or cross-site tracking cookies. We do not participate in ad networks or behavioral advertising exchanges.

For Colorado, Connecticut, and Minnesota residents: we honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals sent by your browser as a valid opt-out of any analytics data collection that could constitute "sale" or "sharing" under applicable law.

Our services are directed to adults seeking employment or talent. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under the age of 16. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 16 without verifiable parental consent, we will delete that information promptly. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us immediately.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page and, where the changes are significant, we will provide additional notice (such as a prominent notice on our website or direct communication to affected individuals).

Your continued use of our services after the effective date of any update constitutes your acknowledgment of the updated policy. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, want to exercise your privacy rights, or need to report a concern, please contact us through any of the following channels.