Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

This Privacy Policy explains the personal-data practices of Gokulam ("we", "us", "our") in respect of the Gokulam HR Management System hosted at gokulam.ehrms.app (the "Service"). The Service is provided to Gokulam employees, contractors, candidates and authorised group-company users for the purpose of human-resources administration.

For privacy queries, write to privacy@gokulam.ehrms.app.

2. Scope & applicability

This policy applies to:

• The web application at https://gokulam.ehrms.app and all sub-paths.
• The Gokulam HRMS mobile application (Android / iOS) when used in connection with the Service.
• All API endpoints exposed under /api on the same domain.

It does not apply to third-party websites you reach by clicking external links from inside the Service.

3. Categories of data we collect

We collect only the personal data that is necessary to operate an HR system. The categories are:

3.1 Identity & contact

• Full name, date of birth, gender, marital status, blood group
• Personal and work email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses
• Profile photograph (uploaded by you or your HR administrator)
• Emergency-contact and family-member details (if you choose to add them)

3.2 Employment data

• Employee code, designation, department, reporting manager, location and joining date
• Employment type, grade, salary structure and revisions, bank-account details for salary credit
• Onboarding records, training records, skills, certifications and education history
• Past experience, references and background-check results (where applicable)

3.3 Statutory & financial identifiers

• PAN, Aadhaar (last four digits displayed, full value encrypted at rest), UAN, PF and ESI numbers
• Income-tax declarations, Form-16 inputs and payslip records
• Bank name, account number, IFSC code (used only for payroll disbursement)

3.4 Attendance & biometric data

• Punch-in / punch-out timestamps, daily attendance status, regularisation requests, work-from-home requests
• Facial templates generated from your enrolment photograph, used solely to verify identity during a mobile punch. The original image is encrypted at rest; the template cannot be reverse-engineered into a usable photo.
• Geolocation captured at the moment of a mobile punch, used only to confirm you are inside an approved geofence. Location is not tracked between punches.

3.5 Communications & usage

• Messages exchanged via the in-app chat (1-to-1 messages and image attachments). Chat history is visible only to the sender and recipient and to a system administrator if required for compliance.
• Notifications you receive within the Service.
• Session cookies, IP address, user-agent string and device identifier for security logging.

3.6 Documents & uploads

Any document you upload (resume, ID proof, expense receipt, asset request attachment, etc.) is stored encrypted at rest and accessible only to your HR team and to roles explicitly granted access by the workflow that requested it.

4. How we use your data

Purpose	What it enables
HR administration	Maintaining your employment record, onboarding, transfers, promotions, exits, statutory filings.
Payroll & statutory	Monthly salary processing, PF/ESI/TDS/PT/LWF deductions and remittance, Form 16/24Q generation.
Attendance & leave	Tracking presence, approving leave/WFH/regularisations, computing loss-of-pay days.
Performance management	Goal setting, appraisals, continuous feedback, PIP records.
Compliance & audit	Meeting labour-law, tax and POSH obligations; producing audit-ready records.
Internal communication	Chat, notifications, birthday/anniversary recognition.
Security & fraud prevention	Detecting unauthorised access, session anomalies, ghost-punching attempts.

We will not use your personal data for advertising, profiling for commercial gain, or any purpose outside the scope of running an HR system.

5. Lawful basis for processing

We rely on the following grounds under applicable Indian and EU data-protection law:

• Performance of an employment contract — for payroll, attendance, leave, statutory reporting and any other processing necessary to fulfil our obligations as your employer.
• Legal obligation — for PF/ESI/PT/LWF/TDS filings, POSH committee operations, labour-law record-keeping.
• Legitimate interest — for security logging, audit trails, asset tracking and fraud prevention.
• Consent — for optional features such as profile-photo upload, in-app chat, mobile geofence punching and face enrolment. You may withdraw consent at any time (see Section 9).

6. Who we share data with

Your data stays inside Gokulam unless one of the following applies:

• Your manager & HR team — see only the data necessary for their role (e.g. an attendance-only manager cannot see your statutory IDs).
• Statutory authorities — Income-Tax Department, PF / ESI offices, professional-tax authorities, for filings mandated by law.
• Banking partners — your bank-account details flow to our salary-disbursement bank in an encrypted file at month-end.
• Auditors & legal advisers — under strict confidentiality, when required for statutory audit or legal defence.
• Cloud infrastructure providers — the Service is hosted on managed servers in India. Operators of those servers do not access your data; the data they hold is encrypted at rest.

7. Data retention

Data type	Retention period
Active employee records	Throughout employment + as long as required for statutory compliance.
Payslips & payroll records	8 years from the end of the financial year (Income-Tax Act requirement).
Attendance & leave records	5 years from the end of the financial year.
Resignation, F&F and clearance records	3 years post-exit.
Background-check & offer records (rejected candidates)	6 months unless re-considered for another role.
Chat messages	Until either party deletes the conversation, or 12 months after the user account is deactivated.
Face enrolment templates	Until the employee leaves or withdraws consent. Deleted within 30 days of trigger.
Security logs (audit_logs)	2 years.

8. Security measures

• Transport: All HTTP traffic to gokulam.ehrms.app is forced over TLS 1.3 (HTTPS). Plain-text HTTP is permanently redirected.
• At-rest encryption: Sensitive columns (Aadhaar, bank account, SMTP password, facial templates) are encrypted using AES-256 with Laravel's APP_KEY.
• Authentication: Sanctum bearer tokens with hashed refresh tokens. Optional multi-factor authentication for administrators.
• Access control: Role-based permissions enforced on every API endpoint. Employees only see their own data; managers only their team; admins audit-logged.
• Audit trails: Every create / update / delete on a sensitive record is recorded in audit_logs with the actor's user ID, IP and user-agent.
• Backups: Daily database backups encrypted and stored for 30 days in a separate region.
• Vulnerability management: Dependencies are tracked and patched; the application stack is reviewed at least quarterly.

9. Your rights

As a data subject you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectify — correct inaccurate or incomplete data (most fields are self-editable in your profile; raise a ticket for the rest).
• Erase — request deletion of data we no longer have a lawful basis to keep (post-exit, subject to statutory retention).
• Restrict — ask us to stop processing while a dispute is open.
• Object — to processing based on legitimate interest where it affects you significantly.
• Withdraw consent — for optional features (face enrolment, geofence, chat). Withdrawal does not affect prior lawful processing.
• Portability — receive your data in a structured machine-readable format (JSON/CSV).
• Lodge a complaint — with the relevant data-protection authority if you believe we have mishandled your data.

To exercise any of these rights, write to privacy@gokulam.ehrms.app. We will respond within 30 days.

10. Cookies & tracking

The Service uses only the cookies/local-storage values strictly necessary for it to function:

• Authentication token (localStorage) — keeps you signed in.
• Session cookie — Laravel-issued, file-backed; expires when the browser closes (unless you tick "Keep me signed in").
• Preferences — interface settings such as sidebar collapsed/expanded.

We do not use third-party analytics, advertising trackers, fingerprinting, or social-media pixels.

11. Mobile app permissions

Permission	Why we need it	Optional?
Camera	To capture your face during punch verification and to enrol it on first sign-in.	Yes
Location (GPS)	To verify you are inside the approved geofence at punch time.	Yes
Storage	To save downloaded payslips, ID-card PDFs and receipt uploads.	Required for the related features
Notifications	To alert you about approvals, payslip release, chat messages.	Yes
Network	To talk to the Service API.	Required

You can revoke any optional permission from your OS settings at any time. The corresponding feature will simply stop working until the permission is restored.

12. Children's data

The Service is for adult professional use. We do not knowingly collect personal data of anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has been entered into the Service in error, contact us so we can remove the data.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes in law or in how the Service operates. If the changes are significant we will notify you by in-app banner or email at least 14 days before they take effect. The "Effective" date at the top of this page always shows the latest revision.

14. Contact us

For any question about this Privacy Policy or how Gokulam handles your data:

• Email: privacy@gokulam.ehrms.app
• HR helpdesk: hr@gokulam.ehrms.app
• Web: https://gokulam.ehrms.app

This policy is provided in English for clarity. A translation can be requested at the address above.