McHire Privacy Statement

We are committed to protecting the privacy of applicants, which is an important part of how we develop, organize, and conduct our recruitment activities.

Please read this privacy statement (hereinafter referred to as the “Privacy Statement”) carefully.

1. What is the scope of this Privacy Statement?

This Privacy Statement concerns candidates applying for a position at a McDonald's restaurant.

In Belgium, all McDonald's restaurants are operated by independent franchisees via their specific legal entities (hereinafter referred to as the “franchisee”). If your application is successful, you will start working as an employee of the franchisee who operates the restaurant.

Our franchisees are locally based and supported by the head office, McDonald’s Restaurants Belgium NV, with registered office in Belgium, 1831 Diegem, Leonardo Da Vincilaan 19A, and with company number 0417.475.429 (hereinafter “McDonald's Belgium”). McDonald's Belgium provides franchisees with its many years of expertise and support.

This Privacy Statement explains, among other things, why and how information about you is collected when you apply for a job at a McDonald's restaurant, whether or not via digital applications such as the McDonald's career site and the McDonald's chatbot, how that information is protected, and what rights you have. Your data will be processed in accordance with applicable data protection legislation, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 of April 27, 2016 (“GDPR”).

2. Who is responsible for processing my personal data?

If your application is successful, you will start working as an employee of the franchisee who operates the restaurant. Only the franchisee decides on the selection and recruitment of candidates and acts as the sole data controller in this regard. 

McDonald’s Belgium can support franchisees in their search for suitable employees for their restaurants, in particular by editing and checking job vacancies on the McDonald’s careers website. However, McDonald’s Belgium does not process any personal data of the candidates. McDonald's Belgium also receives quantitative data from franchisees (the number of applicants per restaurant, the number of recruitments per restaurant, etc.). In this case too, McDonald's Belgium does not process any personal data of the candidates.

3. For what purpose and on what legal basis are my personal data processed?

The purpose of processing your personal data is to register your application for employment at a McDonald's restaurant, which means that the McDonald's franchisee will process all data necessary to assess your application with a view to possible recruitment. 

The processing of your data is therefore necessary in order to take measures prior to the conclusion of an employment contract between you and a franchisee.

In the event of a positive assessment and decision by the McDonald's franchisee to recruit you, the McDonald's franchisee will also use your personal data to prepare the employment contract.

During the recruitment process, the McDonald's franchisee may also process data for legitimate interests, such as in the case of an online presence screening carried out to protect us against fraud and damage to our image, or in the case of the transfer of data to assessment centers or screening agencies (to enable such service providers to assess or screen you).

4. Which categories of personal data will be processed?

Personal data includes all information relating to you or on the basis of which you can be identified. Anonymous data, without the possibility of identifying you, cannot therefore be considered personal data.

Franchisees obtain data directly from applicants through the information submitted via the McDonald's channels used and made available (such as the McDonald's career site and chatbot). Franchisees also collect and process data from applicants through personal contacts, telephone calls, or email. During the recruitment process, the franchisee may also receive personal data about you from third parties or generate personal data about you (e.g., evaluations and assessments).

For the purposes mentioned above, the following personal data may be processed, among other things:

• standard data relating to your identity (surname, first name(s), address, etc.);
• personal data (place and date of birth, nationality, gender, telephone number, email address, hobbies and interests, etc.);
• audiovisual material (e.g. included in your CV);
• memberships (e.g. of professional associations, youth movements, etc.);
• data relating to your professional experience;
• data relating to your education (degrees, certificates, internships, special training, etc.)
• language skills;
• if applicable, whether or not you have a work and/or residence permit for the European Economic Area (EEA);
• all other personal data you provide in your application, in connection with the performance of your job;
• data relating to your qualifications (evaluations, assessments, etc.);
• digital assessment via the internet (presence on social media, etc.), insofar as this presence is accessible to us and insofar as the information is relevant to the position (“online presence screening”). In the context of online presence screening, the franchisee may, in particular, conduct internet searches to screen publicly available data about an individual that is relevant to the position;
• a copy of your identity card, insofar as this is necessary to complete the recruitment process and verify your identity;
• all other personal data (other than those mentioned above) that must be processed by law.

Occasionally, sensitive information about applicants may be processed (e.g., data revealing your race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, or sex life), but this will only be done on the basis of a valid exception (e.g., if the data is apparently made public by you, if this is necessary to comply with obligations under employment law or for the assessment of your suitability for employment under applicable law, etc.).

Your personal data relating to criminal convictions and offenses will only be processed if this processing is permitted by Belgian or European law.

5. Who will have access to my personal data?

Within the franchisees, the employees responsible for recruitment have access to the personal data you have provided, taking into account the ‘need to know’ principle and the purposes described above.

Furthermore, your data may be shared with:

• external service providers such as experts who assist with the recruitment process, IT service providers, HR service providers, marketing agencies;   
• other entities within the McDonald's group.

We have concluded appropriate data protection agreements with all these parties or, where necessary, for the settlement of disputes.

We may also share your data with the authorities if required by law.

Prior to disclosing any information to any third party, we will ensure that all receiving third parties are bound by appropriate security standards.

McDonald's does not sell or trade applicant data to any third party.

6. Will my personal data be transferred outside the European Economic Area?

As a general rule, your personal data will not be transferred outside the European Economic Area. If this is nevertheless the case, appropriate safeguards will be implemented in accordance with the GDPR for the transfer and processing of data from applicants to third countries outside the European Economic Area (such as third countries where our group operates), such as Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46, c GDPR).

7. Is automated decision-making used?

Automated decision-making is defined as decisions about individuals that are based solely on automated data processing and that have legal consequences that significantly affect the individuals concerned.

As a general rule, automated decision-making as described above is not used. The McDonald's franchisee does not base the decision to hire you on automated processing of your personal data.

8. How long will my personal data be stored?

Your personal data will only be stored for a period that is necessary in view of the purposes mentioned above. Your personal data will be stored for a maximum of 4 weeks after you have completed your application. 

If the application leads to an employment relationship, your personal data will be stored in accordance with the retention policy of the franchisee for whom you work. The franchisee is the sole controller for this purpose and will inform you by means of a separate privacy statement for employees.

9. Safety

The (digital) applications made available for the recruitment process use a number of technical, physical, and organizational security measures to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of applicants' data. Franchisees are also required to take such security measures with regard to their processing activities. Security technologies have been implemented to protect the stored data of applicants against unauthorized access, misuse, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction, and accidental loss. The security procedures will be expanded as new technologies become available. Access to your data is limited to employees of the franchisees involved in the recruitment activities and external service providers involved in the process. Employees who have access to your data are obliged to respect the privacy of applicants and to keep the data of applicants confidential.

10. What are my rights regarding the processing of my personal data?

You have various rights regarding your personal data:

• Access (this also includes the right to obtain a copy) or rectification of your personal data;
• Delete your personal data if there is no longer a legal basis for processing it;
• Restrict the processing of your personal data if you object to the processing of the data or its accuracy, or if you wish to retain certain personal data in the context of a possible claim, even though the data is no longer necessary in light of the purposes mentioned above;
• Object to the processing and transfer of your personal data. Where the processing is based on legitimate interests, the processing will be discontinued unless there are compelling legitimate reasons for the processing;
• Withdraw your consent to the processing or transfer of your data when it is based on consent (however, this does not affect the lawfulness of previous processing);
• The personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format so that it can be transferred to another controller (right to data portability’). This is only possible insofar as we process the data relating to your employment contract or the steps preceding it in an automated manner and insofar as this does not adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others;
• Submit a complaint to the regulatory authority if you believe that we have not acted in accordance with data protection legislation.

To exercise your rights, please contact us using the contact details provided in this Privacy Statement.

11. Contact

If you have any questions or comments about the processing of your personal data in the context of the selection and recruitment process in which you were in contact with a franchisee, please contact that franchisee using the contact details you received from them. If you do not have such contact details, please contact McDonald's Data Protection Officer (see below), who will, where appropriate, put you in touch with the relevant franchisee (acting as data controller).

For general questions and comments regarding how McDonald's collects and processes your data, please contact McDonald's Data Protection Officer:

• Per email:  
  data_privacy@be.mcd.com
• Per post:       
  McDonald’s Restaurants Belgium NV 
  Data Privacy Team
  Leonardo Da Vincilaan 19A
  1831 Diegem
  Belgium

12. Changes

This Privacy Statement may be amended from time to time to comply with applicable laws or to reflect changes in business practices, within the limits set by applicable privacy and data protection laws.