Morning. My name is Jacob Clientson. I hope you’re well. I need your help with a rogue recruitment agency that I contracted with.
I don’t want to waste your time. From reading the email from Mrs Non-profit, I can see that different organisations come to Michalsons for help. I heard that you Michalsons people are very busy, which is great. I like a busy lawyer. It tells me he’s wanted by other clients.
I”m sure you’re eager to know what I’m on about. This recruitment agency messed up my whole week, I tell you. And the owner sounded like such a nice guy when I met him. But the man broke our contract and abused personal information… I really want to know what the way forward is.
If it were according to me, I would’ve gone to his office and ran him over with my bakkie, but I’m a civilised man.
Anyway, here are the details…
The rogue recruitment agency
I started doing business with him back in 2020. I needed a fresh crop of employees for my business, which was experiencing a boom around that time. The man made many promises, said he can get me top candidates. He said he’d do everything to ensure that, including background checks, assessments, video interviews, video CVs, the works!
What I didn’t know was the side deals he had. Apparently, he used me to pay for the recruitment, but then when he was done, he took all the personal information from the candidates, both the successful and unsuccessful ones, and sold it. He also kept it for future clients who wanted candidates. This abuse of the candidates went on for a while. I only found out when I got an email from one of the data subjects. Now I’m trying to work everything out.
Your help
From you, I’d like help sorting through this mess. What does POPIA say? Is there anything you can advise me about the recruitment agency; some sort of action you can recommend? Is this even a POPIA matter? Can I use the contract I have with them?
Also, can you tell me about this data protection programme you talk about?
Please help me iron out this mess.
Yours sincerely
Jacob Clientson
