Privacy Policy
An important part of our commitment to providing clients and plan participants with excellent service is our respect for their right to privacy. As a client or plan participant, your personal information is only used by Benefits Architect Group in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
What is Personal Information?
Personal information is information that identifies you as an individual. It may include not only your name and address, age and gender, but also your work history, your identification numbers and possibly your Social Insurance Number (SIN) and the names of your designated beneficiary(ies) and covered dependants (if applicable).
Aggregate information that cannot be associated with a specific individual, such as the number of claims made under a given Plan over a fixed period of time, is not personal information.
Why does Benefits Architect Group ask for your Personal Information?
Your personal information is essential in order to implement benefits. We ask for and use your personal information for the following purposes:
Arranging for Insurance coverage where applicable.
Verifying your eligibility for benefits.
Where necessary, preparation of reports used by the Plan Sponsor in the financial management and overseeing of the Plan.
We may verify some of the information you give us with your employer, union or association in order to administer your benefits correctly. Depending on the plan, information provided by your employer, union or association such that you are personally identified, your personal health information is never collected, or used for any purpose.
Obtaining your Consent before Using your Personal Information
For plans governed by a Board of Trustees, we obtain your express consent to use your information when you complete a Member Information Card. For all other plans, we obtain your consent on an Application for Benefits, or we rely on your employer to obtain your consent to share information with BENEFITS ARCHITECT GROUP for the purpose of implementing your benefits. We always obtain your express consent when you fill out a claim form. Your consent is implied when we can reasonably conclude that you’ve given consent by some action, or that you would consent if directly asked. For example, if your plan offers a pay-direct drug card and if you use the drug card, we can conclude that you have given us your consent to release personal information about your eligibility for benefits to our pharmacy benefit manager and your pharmacist.
If you do not consent to certain uses of information, or if you withdraw your consent after if has been given, we may not be able to provide you with a particular benefit or service. If so, we will explain the situation to you and let you know what your options are.
Disclosure of your Personal Information
Your personal information is shared with the following parties only to the extent required to administer your benefits: your Plan Sponsor, your union or association (if applicable), the coverage provider(s) and the financial institution(s) involved in caring for the Plan.
Retention of your Personal Information
BENEFITS ARCHITECT GROUP is in the process of developing guidelines and implementing procedures with respect to the retention of personal information both on and off-site. Personal information that has been used to make a decision about a plan participant shall be retained long enough to allow the individual access to the information after the decision has been made. BENEFITS ARCHITECT GROUP is subject to specific legal requirements with respect to retention periods as well, for example, as outlined in income tax and pension legislation. BENEFITS ARCHITECT GROUP makes every effort to securely destroy or make anonymous personal information that is no longer required to fulfill identified purposes.
We Keep your Personal Information Secure
Our computer systems are designed to ensure that your information, when stored electronically, is secure from unauthorized access or misuse. We have strict safeguards in place to ensure that your personal information, in both paper and electronic form, is only accessed internally by those who need it to service our Clients and Plan members.
All of our employees, agents and representatives are aware of the sensitive nature of the information we hold and have agreed in writing to keep personal information in their possession strictly confidential. Information is only retained for as long as it is necessary or as long as we are legally required to retain it. It is securely destroyed or anonymized thereafter.
Our Privacy Commitment to You
As your Employee Benefits Consultants, we take our commitment to protecting your privacy seriously. We do everything we can to keep your information secure from unauthorized access or misuse. If you have any questions or concerns about this policy or feel that we are not living up to the commitment we are making to you, please contact us as follows:
Privacy Officer,
Benefits Architect Group
22 Nesbitt Drive
Toronto, ON
M4W 2G3
Fax: (416) 934-9572
E-mail: privacyofficer@benefitsarchitect.ca
Our goal is to resolve any privacy issue you may have in a timely manner to your satisfaction. By providing you with this Privacy Policy, Benefits Architect Group is pledging its continued commitment to protecting the information we collect. We regularly review our information-handling practices to ensure that we are abiding by this policy.