Sierra Forestry Consulting LLC
Effective Date: October 10th, 2026
Sierra Forestry Consulting LLC ("SFC," "we," "us," or "our") respects the privacy of the people who apply to work with us. This Applicant & Recruiting Privacy Policy ("Policy") explains what personal information we collect during recruiting and hiring, why we collect it, how we use and share it, how long we keep it, and the rights you may have.
This Policy applies to anyone who applies for a position with SFC, is referred to us, attends a hiring event, or is otherwise considered for employment, including seasonal, temporary, part-time, full-time, and field crew positions ("applicants"). It covers information collected online, on paper, by phone, in person, and through recruiting partners.
This Policy does not apply to information about current employees, which is covered by separate notices provided at hire. If you are hired, information collected during recruiting will become part of your personnel file and be handled under those notices.
We do not knowingly accept applications from or collect personal information from anyone under 16 years of age. Applicants under 18 may be considered only for roles permitted by law and may be required to provide a valid work permit.
We collect only the information reasonably needed to evaluate you for employment and to complete the hiring process. What we collect depends on the role and how far you progress.
During application and interviews:
• Contact and identity details: name, mailing address, email, phone number, and preferred contact method.
• Work history and qualifications: resume, prior employers, job titles, dates of employment, duties, and reasons for leaving.
• Education and training: schools attended, degrees, coursework, and field or forestry training.
• Licenses and certifications: for example, Registered Professional Forester (RPF) license, driver's license class and endorsements, wildland fire qualifications (such as red card status), first aid/CPR, pesticide applicator, chainsaw, or heavy equipment certifications.
• Job preferences: positions of interest, availability, seasonal dates, willingness to travel or work remote field sites, and desired pay.
• References: names and contact details you provide, and the feedback they give us.
• Interview records: interviewer notes, skills or field assessments, and evaluations.
• Anything else you choose to share, such as a cover letter or work samples.
After a conditional offer of employment:
• Background and driving records: criminal history (only after a conditional offer, as required by California's Fair Chance Act), and motor vehicle records for roles that involve driving company or client vehicles.
• Employment eligibility: information needed to complete Form I-9 and verify authorization to work in the U.S.
• Pre-employment medical or fitness information: for example, results of a physical or pack test where job-related and permitted by law. These records are kept separately and confidentially.
• Onboarding details: Social Security number, tax withholding forms, direct deposit information, and emergency contacts.
What we do not request: We do not ask for your salary history, as prohibited by California Labor Code section 432.3. We do not ask about criminal history before a conditional offer. We do not request access to your personal social media accounts.
Sensitive personal information: Some information above is considered "sensitive" under California law, including Social Security, driver's license, and passport numbers; citizenship or immigration status; health information; financial account information; and demographic information you voluntarily provide (see Section 9). We use sensitive personal information only for the purposes described in this Policy and as permitted by law, not to infer characteristics about you.
Most information comes directly from you. We may also receive information from:
• Our online application or applicant tracking system, Paylocity.
• Job boards, staffing agencies, recruiters, and career fairs where you submitted your information.
• Current SFC employees who refer you.
• References and former employers you authorize us to contact.
• Background check and motor vehicle record providers, with your written authorization.
• Schools, licensing boards, and certifying bodies, to verify credentials you list.
• Public professional sources, such as published license lookups.
We use applicant information only for recruiting, hiring, and related legal and business purposes, including to:
1. Review your qualifications for the position you applied for and, with your consent, for future openings that match your background.
2. Schedule and conduct interviews, field assessments, and skills tests.
3. Communicate with you about your application, status, and job offers.
4. Verify your work history, education, licenses, and certifications.
5. Check references and, after a conditional offer, conduct background and driving record checks.
6. Confirm you can safely perform essential job functions, with or without reasonable accommodation.
7. Make and document hiring decisions.
8. Onboard you if you are hired, including payroll, tax, benefits, and I-9 processing.
9. Meet our legal obligations, such as equal employment opportunity recordkeeping, workplace safety, and responding to government agencies.
10. Meet requirements of clients and public agencies we contract with, such as confirming crew members hold required certifications.
11. Protect the rights, safety, and property of SFC, our employees, and clients, and defend legal claims.
12. Improve our recruiting process using aggregated or de-identified data.
We do not use your information for marketing, and we do not use automated tools to make final hiring decisions without human review.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. Access within SFC is limited to people involved in hiring, such as HR, hiring managers, and interviewers.
We share applicant information outside SFC only as follows:
• Service providers that support recruiting and onboarding on our behalf, such as our applicant tracking and payroll/HR system, background check and motor vehicle record vendors, medical or fitness testing providers, and IT and document storage providers. They are contractually required to protect your information and use it only to provide services to us.
• Clients and public agencies we work for, limited to what a contract requires, such as confirming that an assigned worker holds a required license or certification.
• Our insurance carriers, accountants, and legal advisors, as needed for their professional services.
• Government agencies, when required by law, such as for employment eligibility verification, tax reporting, or responding to a subpoena or agency investigation.
• A successor business, if SFC is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, subject to this Policy's protections.
• Anyone else with your consent.
We keep applicant records only as long as needed for the purposes in this Policy or as required by law, then securely delete or destroy them.
Record
Retention period
Applications, resumes, interview notes, and hiring decision records (applicants not hired)
4 years from the date of the hiring decision, as required by California Government Code section 12946
Background check and motor vehicle reports
4 years, kept confidentially and separate from the application
Pre-employment medical or fitness records
Kept in a separate confidential file for the same period as the application
Form I-9 (if hired)
3 years after hire or 1 year after employment ends, whichever is later
Records of hired applicants
Moved to the personnel file and kept under SFC's employee records schedule
We may keep records longer if they relate to a pending legal claim, agency charge, or investigation, until it is fully resolved. If you ask us to keep your application on file for future openings, we will keep it for 24 months unless you ask us to remove it sooner, subject to the legal minimums above.
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect applicant information. These include limiting access to people who need it for hiring, password-protected and access-controlled systems, locked storage for paper records, separate confidential files for medical and background records, and secure shredding or deletion when records are no longer needed.
No system is completely secure. If you believe your information has been compromised, contact us right away using the information in Section 11. If a data breach affects your personal information, we will notify you as required by California law.
This section serves as SFC's notice at collection for California applicants under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (together, "CCPA").
Categories collected: Over the past 12 months and going forward, we collect the following CCPA categories from applicants, for the purposes in Section 4, from the sources in Section 3, and disclosed only to the recipients in Section 5:
CCPA category
Examples
Identifiers
Name, address, email, phone, Social Security number, driver's license number
Customer records (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e))
Signature, employment history, education, financial account information for direct deposit
Protected classification characteristics
Age, sex, veteran status, disability, race or ethnicity (voluntary)
Professional or employment-related information
Work history, licenses, certifications, references, interview evaluations
Education information
Schools attended, degrees, training records
Internet or network activity
Interactions with our online application portal
Sensory information
Voice or video recordings, only if an interview is recorded with notice
Sensitive personal information
Government ID numbers, citizenship or immigration status, health information, financial account information
Retention periods are listed in Section 6. We do not sell or share any of these categories.
Your rights. If you are a California resident, you may:
• Know and access the personal information we have collected about you, its sources, purposes, and the categories of recipients.
• Delete personal information we collected from you, subject to legal exceptions such as our recordkeeping obligations.
• Correct inaccurate personal information.
• Limit our use of sensitive personal information. We already use it only for purposes permitted by law.
• Be free from retaliation for exercising any of these rights. Exercising your rights will not affect your consideration for employment.
How to make a request. Email hr@sierraforestry.com or call (559)825-3685. We will verify your identity by matching information you provide with information in our records. You may use an authorized agent with your signed permission. We will confirm receipt within 10 business days and respond within 45 calendar days, or tell you if we need up to 45 more days.
SFC is an equal opportunity employer. We make hiring decisions based on qualifications and job-related criteria, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
We may invite you to provide demographic information, such as race, ethnicity, sex, veteran status, or disability status, for government reporting and to measure the fairness of our hiring. Providing it is entirely voluntary. Declining will not affect your application. This information is stored separately from your application and is not seen by people making hiring decisions.
If you need a reasonable accommodation to apply or interview, Caitlyn. We use accommodation information only to provide the accommodation and keep it confidential.
When you apply online, our website and applicant tracking platform may automatically collect technical information such as your IP address, browser type, device information, and pages visited, using cookies and similar technologies. We use this information to operate the application portal, keep it secure, and fix technical problems. You can control cookies through your browser settings, though some portal features may not work without them. Third-party platforms that host our application may also have their own privacy policies.
If you agree to receive text messages about your application, we use your mobile number only for recruiting communications. We will not sell or share your mobile number or text-messaging consent with third parties for their marketing. Reply STOP to opt out at any time.
We may update this Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will post the updated Policy and revise the Effective Date at the top. The version in effect when you apply applies to information collected at that time.
Questions about this Policy or how we handle your information can go to:
Sierra Forestry Consulting LLC
Attn: Human Resources
49444 Road 426
Oakhurst CA 93644
Email:hr@sierraforestry.com
Phone: (559)825-3685