TAL’s Personal Data Policy

Updated as at 18 September 2024

1.    The Tripartite Alliance Limited (“TAL”) is jointly set up and owned by the Ministry of Manpower (“MOM”), the National Trades Union Congress (“NTUC”) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (“SNEF”).  It comprises TAL Management and Corporate and the following agencies: 

• Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (“TAFEP”)
• Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (“TADM”)
• Workplace Safety and Health Council (“WSHC”)

2.    This policy informs you how TAL manages your Personal Data under the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (Cap. 26) (“PDPA”).  Under the PDPA: 

a. Personal Data is information about an individual who can be identified from that data; or from that data and other information to which the organisation has or is likely to have access.  The Act recognises the rights of individuals to protect their personal data and the needs of organisations to collect, process, use or disclose personal data for business and legal purposes. 
b. Business contact information refers to an individual's name, position name or title, business telephone number, business address, business electronic mail address or business fax number and any other similar information about the individual, not provided by him or her solely for personal purposes. Based on this definition, business contact information is excluded from the data protection provisions of the PDPA. 

3.    TAL collects and processes Personal Data, under our capacity of a Data Controller or Organisation (TAL) and a MOM-appointed Data Processor or Intermediary (TAFEP). We rely on legal bases for our collection, processing, use and disclosure of Personal Data either directly from you, your authorised representative, third parties or publicly available sources, for business and legal purposes. The legal bases include express or deemed consent and information on such purposes have been notified; is necessary for our performance of a contract; or is required or allowed under applicable laws.   

4.    For official business representation and/or undertaking by your organisation for business awards, programmes adoption, events training, partnerships, engagements, dispute mediation and settlement, procurement, finance, legal and others, organisations including employer representatives should provide only business contact information to TAL.  With your consent, TAL will collect, process, use, disclose and retain this business contact information for business purposes.

5.    Specifically, if you opt to submit or send us any application, report, dispute, claim, information, email or any other form of correspondence, you will be deemed to have provided explicit personal consent or,  where applicable, obtained third party consent, to provide information including Personal Data to TAL for our reasonable collection, processing, use and disclosure. You also provide personal or representative consent to this information disclosure by any or both of us to the following parties and to subsequent disclosure among same parties of any and all information including, without limitation, Personal Data that may have been possessed or collected in connection with your application, report, dispute, claim, information, email or any other form of correspondence:
a. Tripartite Alliance Limited;
b. Appropriate government regulatory bodies or public agencies (including inter alia, the MOM and the State Courts);
c. Authorised parties (including inter alia, employers, SNEF, NTUC or any other union, NTUC U Care Centre and Migrant Workers’ Centre);
d. Any third party engaged to maintain, repair or enhance this website or otherwise perform services (such as financial, risk management and compliance, external and internal audit, IT services, data analytics, marketing, customer or other research, surveys, polls and focus group discussions) for us for any purpose deemed appropriate by any or both of us.

6.    TAL collects, processes, uses and discloses your Personal Data in:

I.     TAL’s capacity as Data Controller or Organisation to:

a. Promote, implement, recognise and raise fair and progressive employment practices which further our vision of progressive workplaces and harmonious work relations;
b. Help employees and employers manage employment disputes amicably through advisory and mediation services;
c. Promote, implement, recognise and raise workplace safety and health standards which realises the national vision for Singapore.

II.    TAL (TAFEP)’s capacity as MOM’s legally appointed Data Processor or Intermediary who is authorised to collect, process, use and disclose data (including personal data) from MOM or other persons for and in connection with the scope of work below:

a. Promote and manage workplace and recognition programmes such as the OneWorkplace, the Tripartite Standards and the Human Capital Partnership Programme;
b. Based on reports or others as arising, advise, assist, scrutinise, inquire, investigate, guide and assess relevant parties on their employment practices and recommend actions where there are indications of workplace discrimination, non-progressive practices or retrenchment practices which may be in breach of the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices, Fair Consideration Framework or other tripartite guidelines or advisories.  

(Note : Under the  First Schedule and Second Schedule of the PDPA,  organisations may collect,  use and disclose personal data  without the consent of the individual if a statutory exception applies.  In the context of an investigation, organisations may seek to rely on the legitimate interests exception. Under paragraph 3 of Part 3 of the First Schedule to the PDPA, organisations are not required to seek an individual’s consent if the collection, use or disclosure of personal data about the individual is necessary for any investigation or proceedings). 

Collection and Processing of Your Personal Data

7.    TAL collects and processes your Personal Data through the following means:
a.     when you contact, or are contacted by, and respond and interact with us or service providers via telephone, website, chatbot, e-mail, letters, physical or virtual meetings, social media platforms (such as Facebook and LinkedIn), mobile applications and others. All inbound and outbound telephone calls are recorded;
b.     when you provide your organisation’s information to adopt or apply for our workplace programmes and grant funding;
c.     when you respond with or submit Personal Data on reports, disputes, claims, cases including referred cases or others;
d.     when you respond to join our national awards, campaigns, promotions, events, surveys, polls, focus group discussions, competitions, contests, lucky draws or other activities organised or conducted by us;
e.     when you have CCTV, video and audio recordings or photographs taken by us, our partners or representatives during your physical or virtual interviews, meetings or events organised or hosted by us;
f.     when you serve or apply to serve as an industry or functional committee, Tripartite Collective or management board member;
g.     when you apply to join us as an employee, secondee, trainee, intern or others; 
h.     when you submit financial information such as bank, credit card and other payment details;
i.     when you submit your Personal Data for any other reason.

8.    We only collect, process, use or disclose such Personal Data, in accordance with this policy. If you are acting as an intermediary, or otherwise on behalf of a third party, or supply us with information regarding a third party, you undertake that you are an authorised representative or agent of such third party and that you have obtained consent from such third party to our collection, processing, use and disclosure of their Personal Data.  Because we are collecting or processing third party data from you, you undertake to make the third party aware of all matters listed in this policy by referring them to our agencies’ website. Where applicable, for any third parties’ prior disclosure of your personal data, you shall also undertake that they were done so with your consent and authorisation. If you or the third party had not consented to the provision of Personal Data to TAL, please inform us immediately.

9.    The purposes listed in the above clauses may continue to apply even in situations where your relationship with us (for example, pursuant to a contract) has been terminated or altered in any way, for a reasonable period thereafter (including, where applicable, a period to enable us to enforce our rights under any contract with you).

Use of Your Personal Data

10.    TAL uses your Personal Data for the following purposes:
a.     respond to requests or for the purposes for which it was provided to us as stated at the time of the collection or processing (or as is obvious from the context of collection or processing); 
b.     register employer or individual representatives for TAL’s programmes;
c.     management of workplace programmes and grant funding administration;
d.     provide physical or virtual employer training events;
e.     process, advise, mediate and manage reports, disputes, claims, cases including MOM referred cases or others; 
f.      provide assistance with the enforcement of court orders;
g.     facilitate access to financial/social assistance; 
h.    provide you updates through our mailing broadcast and/or social media platforms on our news, research, laws, regulations, progressive practices, case studies, programmes, training events, national campaigns, awards, initiatives, competitions, contests, lucky draws or other activities; 
i.     for case studies in our publications and media profiling;
j.     compile statistics and findings including aggregated findings for submission to government authorities (including MOM), agencies or to respond to media queries;  
k.     conduct market research and analysis including business, customer satisfaction or other research, surveys, polls and focus group discussions to develop or enhance our programmes, services, websites and applications;
l.      monitor or record telephone calls and customer-facing interactions for identification verification, quality assurance and audit, record keeping and administration purposes;
m.     manage the safety and security of our services (including but not limited to protection of our website, application and service platforms; preventing, monitoring or investigating their misuse or security) and premises (CCTV surveillance; security clearances and others); 
n.     conducting investigations relating to disputes, billing or fraud and managing our governance risks;
o.     obtain approval for members to serve in industry or functional committee; Tripartite Collective or management board;
p.     for recruitment, appointment, onboarding and training for employees, secondees, trainees, interns and others;  
q.     for management, financial and regulatory reporting, risk management and compliance, external and internal audit, record keeping and administration purposes;
r.     protecting our rights and interests and those of our users and customers, enforcing legal obligations owed to us or responding to complaints, litigation or investigations to protect ourselves from legal liability;
s.     sharing data in connection with our business structure, transactions or activities;
t.     for TAL’s third party contractors or data intermediaries and/or sub-contractors (“TAL connected entities”) to fulfil obligations or services as stipulated in your contract or agreement with TAL;
u.     for compliance with laws, regulations, guidelines, directions and other similar requirements; 
v.     for purposes incidental to each or all of the above.

Disclosure of your Personal Data

11.    TAL may disclose Personal Data for the following reasons:
a.     to an organisation and where applicable, the MOM, the State Courts and authorised parties (including inter alia, employers, SNEF, NTUC or any other union, NTUC U Care Centre and Migrant Workers’ Centre) to follow up on your case unless you expressly inform us otherwise; 
b.     to relevant authorities (including MOM and MOM’s vendors) and other government regulatory bodies (including the State Courts) upon their official requests; 
c.     to any other party to whom you authorise us to disclose your Personal Data;
d.     to an employee, secondee, trainee, intern, independent contractor or data intermediary providing services to support TAL, whom are under a duty of confidentiality to TAL;
e.     to third parties who perform services such as financial, risk management and compliance, external and internal audit, IT services, data analytics, marketing, customer or other research, surveys, polls and focus group discussions on behalf of TAL;
f.     to the extent necessary to comply with laws, regulations, guidelines, directions and other similar requirements.

12.    TAL does not disclose Personal Data to third parties except when we have your consent or deemed consent, is required by law or where we have engaged our TAL connected entities to process Personal Data on behalf of TAL. Any such third parties whom we engage may have servers located outside of Singapore while parties are required to comply with the PDPA obligations including protection for data transferred overseas.

Third Parties’ Links

13.    This site may contain links to other sites whose data protection and privacy practices may differ from ours. We are not responsible for the content and privacy practices of these other websites and encourage you to consult the privacy notices of those sites. For MOM’s privacy policy, please visit https://www.mom.gov.sg/privacy-statement

Accuracy, Correction and Protection

14.    If you are only browsing this website, we do not capture data that allows us to identify you individually. 

15.    TAL relies on you to ensure that your Personal Data provided is current, complete and accurate. For your convenience, we may display to you, the data you had previously supplied us. This will speed up the transaction and save you the trouble of repeating previous submissions. Should the data be out-of-date, please supply us with the latest data.

16.    If your personal data has been provided to TAL by a third party (e.g., a referrer), you should contact that organisation or individual to make queries, complaints or access and correction requests to us on your behalf.

17.    To protect your Personal Data, all electronic storage and transmission of Personal Data is access controlled and secured with appropriate security technologies such as up-to-date antivirus protection, encryption and the use of privacy filters to secure all storage and transmission of Personal Data by us, and disclosing Personal Data both internally and to our authorised third-party service agents only on a need-to-know basis. 

18.    Although every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that all Personal Data will be protected, you should be aware that no transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure. While security cannot be guaranteed, we strive to protect the security of your information and will constantly review and enhance our information security measures.

Withdrawal, Retention and Contact

19.    You may refuse or withdraw your consent given, or deemed to have been given, for us to collect, process, use or disclose your Personal Data by giving us reasonable notice, in writing. Where you do so, this may affect our ability to provide our service to you. We will stop (and cause any of our TAL connected entities to stop) using or disclosing the Personal Data unless these are required under applicable laws.

20.    TAL will keep your Personal Data for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected or processed and to satisfy our business and legal purposes. We may keep personal data with reference to the statute of limitation for claims or others. Certain information may be retained for longer if we are required to do so by law.

Contact

21.  Please contact our Data Protection Officer at DPO@tal.sg if you: 
a.     have any enquiries on TAL’s Personal Data Policy;
b.     need more information or access to the data which you have provided to us in the past. We will require you to provide certain information to process your request; may charge you a fee to process your request or may decline a request for access (under applicable laws).

Effect of Notice and Changes to Policy

22.    This Policy applies to both Personal Data and Business Contact Information (including third party representation, consent and correction as well as consent withdrawal). It also applies in conjunction with any other notices, contract and consent in relation to the collection, processing, use and disclosure of your Personal Data or Business Contact Information by us. 

23.    We may revise this Policy for business or legal purposes without prior notice. The updated Policy, which supersedes earlier versions, will be posted on our website and will apply to personal data provided to us previously. We encourage you to visit our website regularly for information on our policy updates.

Governing Law

24.    This Personal Data Policy and your use of this website shall be governed by the laws of Singapore.