Privacy Policy

legalsuper recognises the importance of protecting and securing the personal information of its members. For that reason, legalsuper complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) and changes made to that Act by the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000.

This document establishes the policy of legalsuper in relation to its management of personal information. The Trustee has elected to comply with the National Principles for the Fair Handling of Personal Information (the National Privacy Principles) and the establishment of this policy is in accordance with the requirement of clause 5 of the National Privacy Principles.

What personal information does legalsuper collect and why?

legalsuper collects the following personal information for each member:

• full name
• date of birth
• nominated address for communications
• gender
• phone number(s)
• fax number(s)
• e-mail address
• annual salary, as advised by his/her employer
• date of commencement of employment
• superannuation benefit, including contributions paid to legalsuper by or on behalf of the member
• nominated beneficiaries, if provided to legalsuper

This personal information is collected and held to permit:

• calculation of members' benefits
• communication of information to members*
• compliance with legalsuper's taxation payment and reporting obligations
• rollover or transfer of benefits to another superannuation entity
• handling of enquiries and complaints
• payment of benefits
• compliance with any legal obligation.

Tax file number

• to allow the location /identification of a member's benefits
• to deduct tax from eligible termination payments, for reporting to the Australian Taxation Office in relation to surcharge and for making reports to the unclaimed money register
• to report to other regulated superannuation entities, when the benefits of members are transferred to the other entity.

Evidence of health

Health evidence is required if members have elected more than a certain level of insurance cover or to vary their existing level of insurance cover.

Claims information

If a member dies, legalsuper must obtain personal information about each of the member's dependants in order to determine to whom the death benefit should be paid. This information may include financial information, to enable the Trustee to assess the financial needs of each dependant

If a member claims a total and permanent disablement benefit, legalsuper will need to obtain personal information about the member, including health information such as medical reports.

If a member applies for early release of a benefit on grounds of financial hardship, the Board may obtain personal information about the member or the member's dependants. This information may include financial or health information. The information is required to assess whether the member's application should be granted.

*Communications distributed to members will be limited to:

• information about legalsuper;
• benefits available to members of legalsuper from third parties; and
• other information, not related to legalsuper, that the Trustee considers appropriate to distribute to members.

If a member does not wish to receive communications that are not related to legalsuper, he/she can opt out at any time, by contacting us.

How legalsuper collects personal information

Most of the personal information held by legalsuper is collected from each member's employer. Employers provide this information under the employee records exemption. This exemption allows each employer to pass members' details on to legalsuper so that they can meet their obligations under the Superannuation Guarantee Act.

legalsuper also collects personal information from members:

• in written form, confirmed by the signature of the member;
• electronically, by email; and
• orally by the fund administrators or legalsuper Officer.

Where appropriate, personal information collected orally or electronically is confirmed by way of a confirmation letter, sent to the member as soon as practicable after receipt of the information by legalsuper. If a member sends an email to legalsuper, it will record the email address but will only use it for the purposes recorded in this Policy.

All personal information collected will be:

• collected by lawful and fair means,
• used for a lawful purpose,
• collected with your consent or as permitted by law, and
• collected for a clear and explicit purpose.

How legalsuper stores and secures personal information

Personal information is held by legalsuper's administrators on their administration systems. Administration staff have varying levels of security related to administration functions and the administration system is password protected to prevent, to the extent possible, access by unauthorised personnel.

Any personal information that is held in a written format is held in a secure location in order to minimise, to the extent reasonably possible, the risk of access by unauthorised personnel.

The procedures for the storage and disposal of a member's tax file number ensure that legalsuper disposes of tax file number information when it is no longer required by law nor administratively necessary to be retained. Tax file number information is shredded when it is no longer required.

legalsuper uses offsite archive facilities to store member and fund information that is more than two years old. Member records are retained by legalsuper for a period of 10 years at which point they are reviewed and if deemed to be no longer required are destroyed having regard to their sensitivity.

Management of personal information

legalsuper relies on members to notify it of all relevant information on a timely basis so that personal information held by legalsuper is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

If a member notifies legalsuper that personal information held by it is inaccurate, incomplete or not up-to-date, the member's request to change personal information will be actioned as soon as practicable and a letter confirming the change sent to the member.

Release of personal information

Personal information held by legalsuper can be accessed by or may be released to:

• members of legalsuper or their spouses
• employees of the administrators (Australian Administration Services Pty Limited)
• the Trustee Directors
• employees of other service providers to legalsuper such as superannuation consultant(s), auditors and legal advisors
• legalsuper's administration software providers who undertakes a number of functions on behalf of legalsuper requiring direct access to member data
• the mailing house used to distribute communication material to members medical practitioners/ insurance underwriters and others requested by the Trustee to assist in the processing of a disablement claim by a member for the purposes of performing their roles in relation to legalsuper.

The following identification and security measures are applied to any enquiries which would require the release of personal information:

• Telephone Enquiry (member): The member's identity will need to be confirmed by correct answer to a number of questions: eg. Date of Birth, Address, Employer or Date of Commencement with employer.
• Written enquiry (member): Response is made to the address provided.
  Third party accountants, financial planners, powers of attorney and legal representatives must all be authorised by the member (in writing) to receive member information.

Access to information is also provided to other entities as required by law. These instances are described below:

• to Government regulators, such as the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Insurance and Investments Commission (ASIC);
• as required by a court order;
• to the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT);
• to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to enable it to monitor lost members of superannuation funds, to calculate superannuation surcharge payable by members of legalsuper and to monitor the taxation of superannuation contributions and benefits; and
• to other superannuation funds when a member has provided instructions to permit the transfer/ rollover their benefit to another fund.

The personal information held by legalsuper will not be released in any other circumstances unless the law permits it or the member's written permission is obtained.

Information will not be disclosed if it is:

• an internal working document;
• personal information of another person where it would be unreasonable to disclose this;
• information having a commercial value that would be destroyed or reduced by the disclosure; or
• information in relation to which the Trustee owes a duty of no disclosure to another person.

The National Privacy Principles do not require legalsuper to provide an individual with access to his/ her personal information in certain circumstances.

In compliance with the National Privacy Principles, legalsuper will not provide individuals with access to their personal information:

• where providing access would pose a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of any individual;
• where providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals;
• where the request is frivolous or vexatious;
• where providing access would be unlawful;
• where providing access would reveal the intentions of the organisation in relation to negotiations with the individual in such a way as to prejudice those negotiations; or
• where denying access is required or authorised by law.

Where access to personal information is denied, legalsuper will give the member an explanation for the denial of access in writing.

Where can I get further information?

For further information, please write to the legalsuper at:
GPO Box 263C
Melbourne VIC 3001
or phone (03) 9607 9452