MediaAlpha
California Recruiting Privacy Policy
Effective Date: 1/1/2025
This Privacy Policy explains certain MediaAlpha privacy practices with respect to personal information about residents of California who apply for work with us or whom we may otherwise consider as part of our recruiting process (collectively, “Candidates”). This Policy does not apply to (i) people who live outside California, (ii) our activities outside the recruiting function, or (iii) personal information or practices that are exempt from the notice provisions of the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), such as background checks conducted pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Background checks for California residents will not be run until after a conditional offer of employment has been made, pursuant to California state and applicable local laws.
This Policy applies regardless of the nature of the potential working relationship (full- time employment, part-time internship, independent contractor relationship, etc.). References to “employment” and similar terms in this Policy are for the purpose of referring generally to any kind of such working relationship (regardless of whether such relationship could be categorized as an employer/employee relationship under applicable law). This Policy is not agreement or suggestion that any individual is, was, or will be an employee or any other category of worker at MediaAlpha. Should any offer of employment be made to any Candidate, the offer will be for at-will employment, which means that either the employee or the Company may end the employment relationship at any time, with or without or cause. Employment at-will may only be changed as reflected in a written document signed by both the employee at issue and the Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
In this Privacy Policy, we will use the terms “MediaAlpha,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” to refer to QuoteLab, LLC, which does business as MediaAlpha.
Information We Collect
We will collect, use, and otherwise process the following categories of personal information about individuals in their capacity as past, present, or prospective Candidates (“Candidate Data”).
- identifiers, such as name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, email address, telephone number, and recruiting account username;
- audio or visual information, such as voicemails, teleconference recordings, photos, and security camera footage (from on-site visits);
- internet, electronic network, and device activity and device information and related identifiers, such as IP address or record of browsing on our website or of interaction with an online job advertisement;
- professional or employment-related information, education information, information, and other data in job applications, such as education, employment, employment history, licenses, professional memberships or affiliations, resumes, CVs, cover letters, and academic transcripts, the results of assessments and tests given as part of the recruiting process, details about your desired working situation (such as willingness to relocate), and details about how the Candidate heard about an open position;
- health and medical data, such as information on accommodations necessary for an interview;
- other characteristics of potentially protected classification information under California law (such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, or veteran status, all collected on a voluntary basis for equal employment opportunity and diversity monitoring purposes);
- our inferences about the Candidate.
We do not collect all of this data about all Candidates, as needs vary by Candidate (including depending on their prospective role and the stage of their candidacy), certain data is optional, and local recruiting practices and legal requirements may vary.
Uses of Candidate Data
We collect and use this Candidate Data for a variety of reasons (the “Processing Purposes”):
- recruitment, which may include:
- reviewing your application;
- facilitating interviews (including, in certain cases, facilitating travel);
- checking references;
- conducting post-interview surveys;
- notifying you of relevant additional vacancies with us that may interest you;
- otherwise communicating with you;
- operating and protecting our systems (e.g., our recruiting web pages);
- addressing other legal, compliance, and risk matters.
Under the CCPA, California residents have certain rights to opt out of most disclosures of personal information that qualify as a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information as those terms are narrowly defined in the CCPA. Although we make various disclosures of Candidate Data (as detailed further below), in the 12 months before the Effective Date of this Privacy Policy, we did not “sell” Candidate Data as that term was defined in the CCPA at that time and do not plan to engage in such disclosures of Candidate Data in the future. We also did not and do not plan to “share” Candidate Data as defined in the CCPA. (Under the CCPA, “sharing” refers to disclosures of personal information for certain targeted advertising purposes.)
How long will MediaAlpha keep my personal information?
It is our policy not to retain personal information after we determine it is no longer necessary for the Processing Purposes. Where personal information is kept beyond the time that we would need to keep it, that period will be determined based on applicable federal, state, and local laws. Because we may collect and use the same category of personal information for different purposes and in different contexts, there is not typically a fixed retention period that always will apply to a particular category of personal information. Examples of how long we normally intend to retain California personal information for which we are subject to the CCPA in certain situations are set forth below. Data about individuals who reside outside California is handled differently and may be subject to different retention periods.
To provide security and business continuity for the activities described in this statement, we make backups of certain data, which we may retain for longer than the original data.
| Category of personal information collected about California residents in the 12 months before the Effective Date of this Privacy Policy | Examples of how long we plan to retain certain copies of this data |
| Identification and contact information and related identifiers | For California candidates we chose not to hire, we normally plan to retain their job application, which would contain this kind of personal information, for at least four years for compliance purposes. |
| Professional or employment-related information | For California candidates we chose not to hire, we normally plan to retain their job application, which would contain this kind of personal information, for at least four years for compliance purposes. |
| Education Information | For California candidates we chose not to hire, we normally plan to retain their job application, which would contain this kind of personal information, for at least four years for compliance purposes. |
| Internet, electronic network, and device activity and device information and related identifiers | We may retain server logs reflecting California traffic to our recruiting website for several years for security purposes. |
| Audio or visual information | We typically delete voicemails soon after responding to them or resolving the matter under discussion. |
| Health and medical data | Retention periods will depend on the context and purpose for which this information was collected. |
| Other characteristics of potentially protected classification information | For California candidates we chose not to hire, we normally plan to retain responses to equal employment opportunity questions in job applications for four years. |
| Inferences | Retention periods will depend on the context and purpose for which this information was collected. |
How does MediaAlpha collect my information?
We collect Candidate Data from you:
- During the recruitment process, such as in interviews
- If applicable, in preparation for the start of the working relationship
At times, we may also receive data about you from third-party sources, including:
- Our affiliates
- Recruiters and other referral sources
- Other services that assist us with recruiting efforts, such as a travel agency
- Your former employers, and other references you provide
- Publicly available sources, such as your professional profile on LinkedIn or your employer’s website
Disclosures of Personal information
MediaAlpha may disclose your personal information to third parties, including:
- To other MediaAlpha-affiliated companies;
- To third parties and business partners that provide services to us (“Vendors”), such as providing insurance coverage, hosting a recruitment system, analyzing data to improve performance and recruiting practices, and otherwise assisting in recruitment and related administrative activities;
- To law enforcement agencies, courts, regulators, arbitrators/arbitral forums, federal/state/local administrative agencies, and other government authorities (collectively, the “Governmental Entities”);
- To protect our rights, your rights, or the rights of any third party (collectively, “Rights Protection”), or to otherwise address legal matters/obligations (together, “Legal Matters”) and
- In connection with a merger, acquisition, or other significant corporate transaction.
In the 12 months before the Effective Date of this Privacy Policy, we made the following disclosures of Candidate Data that we collected during that time:
| Category of personal information collected about California residents in the 12 months before the Effective Date of this Privacy Policy | Entities to whom we disclosed it |
| Identification and contact information and related identifiers | Affiliates, Vendors (e.g., insurers and benefits providers), Governmental Entities, and Third Parties Involved in Legal Matters or Rights Protection |
| Professional or employment-related information | Affiliates, Vendors (e.g., insurers and benefits providers), Governmental Entities, and Third Parties Involved in Legal Matters or Rights Protection |
| Education Information | For California candidates we chose not to hire, we normally plan to retain their job application, which would contain this kind of personal information, for at least four years for compliance purposes. |
| Internet, electronic network, and device activity and device information and related identifiers | Affiliates, Vendors, Governmental Entities |
| Audio or visual information | Affiliates, Vendors, Governmental Entities, and Third Parties Involved in Legal Matters or Rights Protection |
| Health and medical data | Affiliates, Vendors (e.g., benefits providers), Governmental Entities |
| Other characteristics of potentially protected classification information | Affiliates, Vendors, Governmental Entities |
| Inferences | Affiliates, Vendors |
CCPA Rights
If you are a California resident, the CCPA permits you to request that we:
- Provide access to and/or a copy of certain information we hold about you;
- Delete certain information we have about you;
- Correct certain personal information we have about you; and
- Inform you about the categories of personal information we have collected about you in the preceding 12 months; the categories of sources of such information; the business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling your personal information; and the categories of third parties with whom we have disclosed certain personal information, and more specific detail about what categories of information, if any, were “sold,” “shared” or disclosed to particular categories of third parties, similar to the detail in this Privacy Policy.
Please note that certain information may be exempt from such requests under California law. For example, we need certain information to evaluate job applications, so we may reject a deletion request for that information if you still wish for us to evaluate your job application, or we may give you the opportunity to withdraw your application.
To request to exercise any of these rights, email us at dpo@mediaalpha.com, or call us at 1-833-549-0351. We reserve the right to require verification of your identify before we fulfill a request, which may include requiring you to login to an existing MediaAlpha account, providing us with information that matches our records for you, responding to an email we send, or taking other steps relevant to your relationship with us and the nature of your request.
If you are an agent making a request on behalf of a Candidate, we reserve the right to take steps to verify that you are authorized to make that request, which may include requiring you to provide us with written proof such as a notarized authentication letter or a legally sufficient power of attorney signed by the data subject pursuant to California Probate Code sections 4121 to 4130, or other written authorization acceptable to us. We also may require the consumer to verify their identity directly with us where permitted. For clarity, this is not permission for any individual to disclose their login credentials to an agent or any third party. Such disclosure is prohibited and is not required for an agent to make requests under this Policy.
For security and legal reasons, however, MediaAlpha reserves the right not to accept requests that require us to access third-party websites or services.
You have a right not to receive “discriminatory treatment” (within the meaning of the CCPA) for the exercise of the privacy rights conferred by the CCPA.
We do not use California “sensitive personal information” (as defined by the CCPA) in a manner that would require us to comply with the CCPA obligation to offer individuals a special right to limit our handling of that data due to its sensitive nature.
MediaAlpha Security Practices
We take certain steps as part of an effort to protect personal information but cannot guarantee the security of your personal information.
Notification of Changes
MediaAlpha may change this Policy at any time, such as to reflect changes in the law, our data collection and use practices, and advances in technology. The current version will be hyperlinked from the recruiting section of our main website.
How to Contact Us
If you have questions regarding our data privacy practices or this statement, please contact us via email at dpo@mediaalpha.com or via phone at 1-833-549-0351.