Privacy Policy — RuthNel UniquelyAbled

Draft notice: this is a working draft reflecting the platform's actual data practices, prepared for attorney review before publication — not yet a finalized legal document. Multi-jurisdiction legal review is planned as the platform grows its international user base.

Our approach: RuthNel UniquelyAbled is a global platform. Rather than applying different, weaker protections depending on where you happen to live, we apply the same data handling standard to every candidate, employer, and partner, everywhere — informed by widely-recognised frameworks like POPIA and GDPR. In practice, this means: we only use your information for what we've told you it's for, we never sell it, and we never repurpose it for anything beyond what's described in this policy without asking you first.

1. Who we are

RuthNel UniquelyAbled is a platform operated by RuthNel Group ("RuthNel," "we," "us"), connecting job seekers living with disabilities with employers worldwide. RuthNel is the party responsible for personal information processed on this platform, for every user regardless of location.

2. What we collect

From candidates: name, contact details, CV content (work history, education, skills), self-declared disability status (optional detail beyond a basic declaration), accommodation needs, languages, and any supporting documentation you choose to upload for local employment-equity or accommodation verification purposes.

From employers: business name, contact person information, business details relevant to understanding your hiring needs, and enquiry/payment records.

From partners: organisation details, contact information, and referral/commission records.

3. How we use it

To connect candidates with employers based on skills, experience, and accommodation fit
To respond to employer enquiries and, where agreed, arrange full profile access
To process job posting payments and calculate partner commissions
To maintain an accurate, auditable record of who has accessed candidate information, and when
To comply with our own legal and accounting obligations

We do not sell your information, and we do not use it for any purpose beyond what's described here without asking you first.

4. Who sees your information

Candidates control their own visibility. Basic profile information (skills, experience, accommodation needs, a reference number) is visible to any registered employer. Full contact details and CV only become visible to a specific employer once access has been arranged directly with our team — every such access is logged and visible to you.

5. Your rights — the same for every user, everywhere

Access: request a copy of everything we hold about you
Correction: ask us to fix inaccurate information
Erasure: request deletion, actioned by anonymizing your profile — removing all identifying information while preserving anonymized records needed for our own accounting and legal compliance
Portability: download a complete, structured export of your own data at any time from your dashboard
Objection: object to processing you're not comfortable with, and we'll respond directly

These rights are not limited to any one country's users — every candidate on this platform has all of them, always.

6. Data security

Access to full candidate profiles is enforced at the database level, not just hidden in the interface. Every full-profile view and download is logged. Downloaded CVs are watermarked with the accessing employer's identity and date, to protect against unauthorized redistribution.

7. Data breaches

In the event of a data breach, we follow a documented response plan with a 72-hour regulator/affected-person notification target — the strictest standard among the frameworks we align with, applied universally rather than varying by where you're located.

8. International data transfers

As a global platform, your data may be processed on servers outside your home country. We take appropriate technical and contractual measures to protect your data regardless of where it is processed, consistent with the standard described above.

9. Information Officer / Data Protection Contact

Our Information Officer can be contacted at info@ruthnel.co.za regarding any privacy questions, requests, or concerns — for users anywhere in the world.

10. Changes to this policy

If we materially change how we handle your information, we will notify affected users and, where required, request renewed consent.