This Privacy Policy (this “Policy”) governs the manner in which SGS, LLC, doing business as (d/b/a) “FERS DISABILITY EXPERT” (“FERS DISABILITY EXPERT”, “we” or “us”) collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from visitors and clients (each a “user” or “you”) of the website www.fersdisabilityexpert.com (the “Site”) and its related features and professional services (hereinafter, “Services”). We care about your trust and confidence, and therefore make it a priority to ensure that your information is secure and confidential. Please read this Policy to learn about how we collect, use, and share user information whenever you access our Site or engage our Services. This Policy applies to information obtained in connection with FERS DISABILITY EXPERT’s operations at or through our websites, and, if applicable, our mobile/tablet sites, our social media presence, platforms and any other digital properties that link to this Policy.
By using our Services, user consents to the data collection and use practices described herein. User also acknowledges that any dispute you may have over privacy is subject to this Policy, our Terms of Use, and the Client Services Agreement (if applicable), which are incorporated by reference into this Policy. FERS DISABILITY EXPERT may modify this Policy at any time, effective upon its posting. Your continued use of our Site, features, content and Services constitutes your acceptance of this Policy and any updates.
Personally Identifiable Information. We may automatically collect personal information (collectively “Personally Identifiable Information”). Personally Identifiable Information is captured when a user willingly discloses such information to us in a variety of ways including, but not limited to, registering on the Site, engaging our Services, filling out a form, subscribing to a newsletter, responding to a survey, submitting a review, participating in chats and comment sections, contacting our Customer Service department, or in connection with other activities, services, features or resources we may make available on our Site.
Personally Identifiable Information may include, but is not limited to: (i) Contact Data (such as name, address, city, state, zip code, phone number, email address, social media accounts and profiles) and (ii) Demographic Data (such as your zip code, gender and age). This Personally Identifiable Information is necessary to generate the Services we offer on our Site.
Please Note: Although you may submit credit card or other payment information at the time you engage our Services, FERS DISABILITY EXPERT does not collect or store that information. Now, or in the future, FERS DISABILITY EXPERT may accept credit card payments through the Site, in such event, all credit card transactions, including the capture and storage of credit card information, will be handled by our third-party merchant processing vendor, and are subject to such vendor’s policies.
Users may visit our Site without providing Personally Identifiable Information. However, refusal to supply Personally Identifiable Information may prevent users from accessing certain offerings or features on the Site.
Use of Personal Information. FERS DISABILITY EXPERT, sometimes with third party assistance, may use your Personally Identifiable Information to verify your identity and process a request and payment through our third-party order fulfillment vendors, to provide the Services a user has requested, and to analyze our customer demographics to better serve you. Your Contact Data may be used to follow up with you on your requests, consultations and services initiated on the Site, respond to inquiries made through the Site, inform you of changes to the Site, and send you additional information about FERS DISABILITY EXPERT and/or its Site and Services. Unless specifically authorized by you, we do not provide Personally Identifiable Information to third parties, except as necessary to provide you with the Services.
We may disclose information upon governmental request, in response to a court order, when required by law, to enforce our policies, or to protect our or others’ rights, property or safety. We may share information to prevent illegal uses of FERS DISABILITY EXPERT’s Services or violations of the Terms of Use and this Policy, or to defend ourselves against third-party claims. We may also share information with companies assisting in fraud protection or investigation. This Policy does not apply to, and we are not responsible for, any collection of information from any outside website or third party, even if linked from our Site. We suggest that you review the privacy policies of all outside websites.
Information Made Public Through the Use of Our Services. Certain features on the Site may give you an opportunity to interact with us and others. These may include collaboration tools, forums, blogs, chats, and commenting on articles. When you use these features, you should be aware that any information you submit, including your name, location, email address, and/or comments, may be publicly available to anyone, including other users, search engines, advertisers, third party application developers, and anyone else with access to the Site and our Services. We are not responsible for any information you choose to submit and make public through these interactive and public features.
Automatically Collected Information. We reserve the right to automatically track, monitor, and record traffic data on our Site. This information is general and non-personal, and individual users are not readily identifiable to us. Such information is used to improve the functions of our Site, improve user-experience, and for targeted advertising. Such automatically collected information includes, but it is not limited to: the date, time, and length of Site access, device information, including the hardware model, operating system and version, unique device identifiers, and network information, your activities within the Site, language information, internet domain and host names, internet protocol (IP) addresses, and clickstream patterns.
How We Automatically Collect Information. We may automatically track, monitor, and record non-personal traffic data through the use of cookies and other tracking technologies.
- Cookies are small data text files that websites and apps use to recognize repeat users in order to facilitate users’ access to the website or app and to track usage behavior and compile usage information that allows for the improvement of content and targeted advertising. Most browsers allow you to control whether or not to accept cookies from individual sites, but note that some features of the Site may not work properly with cookies blocked. You may also get cookies from our advertisers or other third parties, as is standard practice in the internet industry, however, we have no control over these cookies and we are not responsible for their use.
- Other Technologies may also be employed to record non-personal information. We may use “tracer tags”, which may also be referred to as “Clear GIFS”, “Pixels”, or “Web Beacons”. Tracer tags are embedded in the code of a web page and are used to monitor traffic patterns of users from one page within our Site to another, to deliver or communicate with cookies, and to understand if users came to our site from an online advertisement from a third party site. We may link the information we record using cookies or tracking technology to information we have stored.
Use of Automatically Collected Information. In general, we use the information we collect to improve and expand our Services, web features, and to provide customer service and technical support. Automatically Collected Information enables the tailoring of advertisements and offers specifically for you (if applicable). In addition to such tailoring, we use Automatically Collected Information to ensure that our online presence operates properly and efficiently for you and for your individual experience, to evaluate the use and benefit of such presence, and to support our website and marketing efforts. We may also use collected information for the following general purposes: to provide you with requested Services; to manage your account; to provide you with notifications and updates; to optimize third party offers or features, services and/or products; to monitor interest and improve our Services; to respond to questions and comments; to help customize your experience; to solicit information from you; to resolve disputes; and to enforce our Terms of Use.
How We Share Automatically Collected Information. The following explains who we may share non-Personally Identifiable Information with:
- Third Party Vendors. Those who provide services on our behalf, including business analytics, marketing, customer service, and internet security, to collect information on our behalf as necessary to operate Site features or promote advertising specific to your interests;
- Advertisers. We may share Automatically Collected Information with advertisers who may collect the same type of data that we collect and for the same purposes. These third parties may be able to associate information they collect with information that they have about you from sources outside of our Site. These advertisers may employ cookies or other types of tracking technology that we do not have control over, but you may be able to opt-out of some of their practices by visiting internet-based advertising opt-out organizations like the Network Advertising Initiative and Digital Advertising Alliance;
- Legal Authorities. We may disclose your information, including Personally Identifiable Information, in response to government requests, subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process; to exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal claims; or as required by applicable law;
- Illegal Activity. When we reasonably believe it is appropriate to take action regarding suspected illegal acts, suspected fraud or other wrongdoing; to defend and protect the rights, property, or safety of our company, our Site, our users and in connection with this Policy, our Terms of Use or other Client Services Agreements, we may share your information to reasonably assist in the termination of such activities; and
- Business Transfers. We may also share your information in connection with a corporate transaction including, asset sale, merger, consolidation, divestiture, or bankruptcy. If this should happen, notice will be provided by posting to the website or other form of communication.
Other than what is set out above, we will not share your Personally Identifiable Information with third parties unless we notify you first. You will have an opportunity to choose to opt-out of such information disclosures.
Opting Out. You may choose not to provide us with any Personally Identifiable Information or you may turn off cookies in your web browser by changing your browser settings. If you make these decisions, you may visit the Site and browse the generally available content, but we cannot process requests without this information.
If you do not wish to receive information and/or promotional materials from FERS DISABILITY EXPERT, the Site, or from our partners, you may choose to ‘opt-out’ when you communicate with us or you may unsubscribe from our mailing list or any one of the promotions or other materials we send.
Protected Health Information. FERS DISABILITY EXPERT adheres to the requirements outlined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), 45 C.F.R. §§ 160, 162 and 164, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, 45 C.F.R. §164.402, and all applicable law, which ensures security and privacy of an individual’s medical records and promotes privacy and trust between patients and health care providers and/or consultants.
Upon engagement with FERS DISABILITY EXPERT and the Services, users may be required to disclose and provide Protected Health Information (“PHI”) through FERS DISABILITY EXPERT’S secure file transfer systems. Such secure file transfer systems are not connected to the Site and are subject to the privacy policy and terms of use of the file transfer provider(s). PLEASE NOTE: DO NOT PROVIDE YOUR PHI TO FERS DISABILITY EXPERT THROUGH THIS WEBSITE OR UNSECURED EMAIL. INSTRUCTIONS FOR SAFE AND SECURE FILE TRANSFER WILL BE PROVIDED BY FERS DISABILITY EXPERT AT THE TIME THAT FERS DISABILITY EXPERT HAS BEEN RETAINED AND APPROVED SUCH REPRESENTATION. Upon such engagement and disclosure, FERS DISABILITY EXPERT shall be permitted to use and/or disclose PHI created or received from and on behalf of a user, for all purposes necessary to provide the Services, provided that said use and/or disclosure complies with Massachusetts and Federal laws and regulations. Any use or disclosure of PHI will be limited to the extent needed to accomplish the purposes of the Services. FERS DISABILITY EXPERT will only use and/or disclose PHI as expressly permitted by Law.
At all times, FERS DISABILITY EXPERT will maintain the security and privacy of all PHI in a manner consistent with Massachusetts and Federal laws and regulations. In order to guarantee the user’s protection, we will implement appropriate administrative, physical, electronic and technical safeguards and security procedures in order to preserve the confidentiality, integrity and availability of all PHI and to prevent any unauthorized use or disclosure of PHI.
How We Protect Your Information. We adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of your Personally Identifiable Information and PHI, financial transaction information and data stored on our Site and on our servers. We use a variety of security measures, including encryption and authentication tools, to help protect your information and online payments and transactions. All financial transactions are processed through a third party merchant processing company that upholds the highest standards for identity protection and data security in the industry. In the event that we allow for secure payment processing through the Site, our third party processing partner will secure all payment information and personally identifiable information using secure servers when payments are made. All credit card information you supply will be transmitted using the security and encryption features commonly used in the industry. All credit card information will be stored within the third party processing partner’s servers and such transactions will be subject to the third party processing partner’s terms and privacy policies.
Sensitive data, such as Financial Data, Personally Identifiable Information and PHI you exchange with us occurs over SSL secured communication channels and is encrypted and protected with digital signatures. Our Site is also in compliance with PCI vulnerability standards in order to create an environment as secure as possible for our users.
Your information may be transferred to, and maintained on, computers located outside the jurisdiction in which you reside. Please be aware that the privacy laws where your information is transferred may offer more or less protection than the laws where you live. By voluntarily submitting information to us, you consent to have your information transferred to, processed, and stored in the United States, irrespective of what geographic region you are located in.
Modifying or Deleting Your Information. You can modify or delete your Personally Identifiable Information within certain Services. If you would like to request changes to the Personally Identifiable Information that you have previously provided to us, please contact us by mail or email, using the contact information below. Your information previously posted may still be publicly viewable. FERS DISABILITY EXPERT may keep information and content in our backup files and archives.
Children’s Policy. We do not intend for the Site to be used by individuals under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect any information from these individuals. If you are under the age of 18 you may not use our Site, unless you are an emancipated minor or possess legal parental or guardian consent and are fully able and competent to enter into the Terms of Use and this Policy. If you are a parent or a legal guardian and think we have information about your child who is under the age of 18, please let us know by contacting us as directed in this Policy.
Third Party Links. Our Site and our Internet Marketing Channels may link you to other sites not controlled or operated by us. Such outside websites do not operate under this Policy. We encourage you to examine the privacy statements posted on those sites in order to inform yourself of their various procedures for collecting, using, and disclosing your information. We are not responsible for the content of privacy practices of such third-party sites. Our Site may also be linked to sites operated by third parties, and may carry advertisements or offer content, special offers, functionality, or applications developed and maintained by third parties.
Governing Law and Arbitration Provision. By using our Site, you accept that any dispute over privacy is subject to this Policy, our Terms of Use and Client Services Agreement (if applicable). This Policy and the privacy practices of FERS DISABILITY EXPERT are subject exclusively to the laws of Massachusetts, without regard to any conflict of law principles. We make no representation that this Policy and such practices comply with the laws of any country outside the United States.
If you have any concern about privacy issues, please contact us as directed in this Policy. If, however, your issue, arising out of or relating to this Policy, has not been addressed within 30 days of our receipt of notification, you may seek resolution by binding arbitration, and ONLY THROUGH ARBITRATION. BY AGREEING TO THIS POLICY YOU AGREE TO RESOLVE ALL DISPUTES THROUGH BINDING ARBITRATION. The arbitration shall be administered by the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service (“JAMS”), pursuant to its Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures (and in accordance with the Expedited Procedures in those rules) and shall be governed by the laws of Massachusetts. The Tribunal shall consist of one arbitrator. The place of arbitration will be in Boston, Massachusetts. Any award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction.
Updates and Modifications to this Policy. We reserve the right to occasionally update this Policy in the future. At such time, we will also revise the “last updated” date found at the top of this Policy. We encourage you to periodically review this Policy. You acknowledge and agree that it is your sole responsibility to review this Policy periodically for modifications.
How to Contact Us. Should you have questions, comments or disputes regarding this Policy, please contact us by mail or email at the following:
By Mail:
SGS, LLC
FERS Disability Expert
100A Cass Ave., Unit 10,
Dracut, MA 01826
By Email: Click here