TexasCompensation.com™ Usage Agreement

INTRODUCTION Thank you for using TexasCompensation.com™, an Internet website (hereinafter, "the Website"), that provides a compensation and benefits survey, a compensation and benefits analysis service, and access to results data (collectively, "the Survey"). The Website, the Survey, and any and all portions thereof, including collected Survey data and Survey results, are solely owned and operated by Synergy Management Solutions, Incorporated (“Synergy”). In this Agreement, the term “You” refers to yourself as an individual, your company, your organization, and/or your company’s or organization’s division or other entity that is a user of the Website and its provided Survey. Users of the Website and Survey who have paid a three (3) month subscription fee are herein referred to as "Subscribers." Please read these terms and conditions ("the Agreement") carefully. By accessing the Website, the Survey, any or all Survey data and data analyses, or any portions thereof, You agree to be bound by the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement. The terms and conditions contained in this Agreement may be updated by Synergy from time to time without notice to You and may be accessed at www.TexasCompensation.com at any time. By using the Website and the Survey, You represent and warrant that You are 18 years of age or older and possess the legal right and ability to enter into this Agreement and to use the Website and the Survey, including any or all survey data and data analyses or any portions thereof, in accordance with all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement. You further certify that You are not a person barred from receiving such services under the laws of the United States or any other applicable jurisdiction. If You do not agree to be bound by the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement, do not access the Website, the Survey, the Survey results data, or any parts thereof. PARTICIPATION AND PAYMENT Subscribers may use the Website to sign up for membership and to contribute data to the Survey at any time during any calendar quarter. Alternatively, participants may, for an additional cost, choose to access the Survey results and the data analyses without contributing data to the Survey. At the end of each quarterly data collection period, Survey data that has been collected during that quarter is compiled for reporting and analysis purposes. Approximately three (3) months are required to validate, audit, and calculate the Survey data before the Survey results are available on the Website. The Survey results for that collection period are usually available in the first month of the calendar quarter (January, April, July, and October) following the audit process. A subscription provides a User with access to the Website for three (3) consecutive months. Once a Subscriber has signed up for membership, has submitted data to the Survey (or chosen not to provide data to the Survey, as described in the above paragraph) and has remitted their three (3) month subscription fee, they will receive immediate access to the Survey results through the end of their 3-month subscription. Since a Subscriber is granted access to the Website for a period of three (3) months, a delay in submitting Survey data in a timely manner may result in the Subscriber having access to the Survey results for less than the full subscription duration of three (3) months. Payment for Survey subscriptions may be remitted by credit card directly on the TexasCompensation.com™ Website. Synergy will honor, within five (5) business days, requests from Subscribers to cancel their TexasCompensation.com™ subscription and be issued a full refund of any monies paid to Synergy, regardless of the reason for the cancellation, provided that certain conditions be met, as follows: (1) the Subscriber has requested the cancellation within five (5) days of the date upon which they paid for their Survey subscription, (2) actual physical payment has been received by Synergy, and (3) the Subscriber has not accessed the Survey results. Subscribers may be notified of their pending subscription lapse and any renewal requirements by email at least 30 days prior to their membership expiration date. Failure to renew by the membership expiration date shall result in termination of access to the Website, Survey and/or Survey results at the end of their then current subscription. YOUR USAGE OBLIGATIONS In consideration of Your use of the Website and the Survey and any portions of either, You agree to provide true, accurate, current and complete information about Yourself and Your organization as prompted by the Website. If You provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, or Synergy has reasonable grounds to suspect that any such information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, Synergy has the right to (a) exclude any suspect data from the Survey, and/or (b) suspend or terminate Your account and refuse any and all current or future use, by your company or organization, of the Website and the Survey, or any portions thereof. If You have chosen to provide data to the Survey, You agree to review the applicable TexasCompensation.com™ job titles and job descriptions during the Survey data entry process, and make a careful, considered and, to the extent possible, an appropriate match between each of the positions Your organization is reporting and the corresponding TexasCompensation.com™ position. You also agree to provide true, accurate and current Survey data for each position being reported. Further, You agree to provide Survey data for a number of positions that represents a substantial percentage of Your organization's true total employee population. PASSWORD AND SECURITY Subscribers will receive a login name and password upon completing the Website's registration process. Your account information is owned by and is proprietary to Synergy. While You may access Your account information through the Website, You may not give access to Your account to any other person or entity other than a person that You directly supervise, or are supervised by, as part of a single human resource department for a single company, organization or division of a company or organization. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of Your login name and password and are fully responsible for any and all activities that may occur under Your password or account. You agree to (a) immediately notify Synergy of any unauthorized use of Your password or account or any other breach of Website and/or Survey security, and (b) ensure that You exit from Your account at the end of each session. Synergy shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from Your failure to comply with these provisions. DISCLAIMER REGARDING SALARY RESULTS AGING Synergy compiles new Survey data[1] on a quarterly basis and combines it with previously collected data to calculate the Survey results for each quarter of the year. An Aging Factor is applied to any previously collected quarterly data that is included in the current quarter's results to adjust for the movement of salaries through the year. This Aging Factor is proprietary to Synergy and is derived from a combination of statistical metrics, including the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), BLS-reported annual changes in national salary data, actual reported TexasCompensation.com™ salary data trends, and other economic factors. The aging process is designed to provide a more accurate representation of current pay levels by interpolating Survey results between data collection periods. However, the assumptions and calculations applied through the data aging process may be flawed and may not represent actual current or valid pay levels for any particular position or any specific market. PRIVACY POLICY Registration data, Your organization's name, and certain other information about You and Your organization are subject to our Privacy Policy. By using the Website and Survey, or any part of either, You represent and warrant that You have read and agreed to the terms of the TexasCompensation.com™ Privacy Policy. For more information, please see our full Privacy Policy, which is available on the Website. NO WARRANTY Your use of the Website, the Survey, and any or all data and data analyses provided by the website is at Your own risk. While Synergy strives to produce an accurate, professional, and timely product, the Website and the Survey may contain typographical errors, data errors, and other inaccuracies. The Website content, including, but not limited to, any or all Survey data and/or data analyses, is provided "as is" and without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, (a) of any expectation of privacy, including but not limited to use of Your company or organization name and any provided information, whether or not payment has been made to Synergy; (b) that the Website and/or the Survey will be operational and available on a 24-hours per day, seven days per week basis; (c) that variations, if any, between the demonstration and current production versions of the Website and Survey will be non-existent or minimal; (d) that errors in computer software and/or data and/or data analyses, if any, will be identified, mitigated and/or corrected in a timely fashion, if at all; and (e) as to the accuracy, reliability, completeness, availability, or timeliness of any or all Survey results, data, data analyses, and any content or materials included on this Website and Survey, or any portions thereof. While Synergy uses industry-standard data encryption technology to protect all data being sent over the Internet, Synergy does not warrant the security of any such data transmissions and shall not be responsible for unauthorized access to Your data, any data that is transmitted or not transmitted, or any transactions entered into through the Website or the Survey or any portions of either. Any data or other information downloaded or otherwise obtained from or through the use of the Website, or the Survey, is done at Your discretion and risk, and You will be solely responsible for any damage to Your computer system(s) or any loss of data that results from the download of any such data or information from the Website. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY Synergy shall not be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, losses or expenses arising in connection with the usage of the Website, the Survey, Survey data, Survey results, data analyses or any portions thereof Similarly, Synergy shall bear no responsibility in connection with any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, system failure, unauthorized access to Your transmissions or data, lack of compliance with the terms of any confidentiality agreements, or any other matter relating to the Website, the Survey, any or all Survey data and data analyses or this Agreement, whether based on contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or otherwise. MODIFICATIONS TO SERVICE Synergy reserves the right at any time to alter, change, modify or discontinue, either temporarily or permanently, the Website, the Survey, Survey data, Survey data analyses, Survey results or any parts or features thereof, including, but not limited to, Website and/or Survey functionality, features or algorithms, Your password or account, Your ability to use the Website, the Survey, or any portions of either, with or without notice. Synergy shall not be liable to You or any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Website or Survey or any portions or features thereof. LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES The Website may provide hyperlinks or references to other websites. While Synergy endeavors to provide links only to websites that are considered by it to be reputable and safe, Synergy has no control over such websites and accordingly takes no responsibility for the availability, or the information, products or services obtained on such other websites, and shall not be liable for any damages arising from Your access, or lack of access, to such websites. Synergy provides any such links to other websites merely for Your convenience, and our inclusion of such links in the Website does not imply an endorsement of any such hyperlinked or referenced websites, their content or the persons and/or entities operating those sites. Therefore, You assume sole responsibility for using any hyperlinks and references to third-party websites. PROPRIETARY INFORMATION AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY The copyright to any and all pages and screens displayed on the Website and Survey, including, without limitation, Survey data, Survey results, and analyses, software, programming, calculations, text, graphics, images, logos and button icons, documents, and marks are held solely by Synergy unless otherwise indicated. You may print copies of the pages from the Website for Your personal or business use within Your organization, provided You do not publish, copy or otherwise retransmit what You have printed from the Website or the Survey or any parts of either. You may not use any data obtained from Website, whether combined or integrated with other third-party data or not, for any purpose other than the planning, budgeting, administration, coordination, and management of employee compensation programs within Your own company, organization or corporate division. You may not publish or otherwise provide any data or information obtained from the Website, the Survey or any parts thereof to any third party, whether for payment or not. Unless otherwise permitted under United States copyright laws, You understand and agree that the resale, reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication, display, performance or storage of any information or data provided by the Website and the Survey is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of Synergy. You further understand and agree that any such resale, reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication, display, performance or storage of this material will cause irreparable harm to Synergy. All information and data submitted to the Website or the Survey by You shall be deemed to be the sole property of Synergy and shall remain so in perpetuity. Any ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques contained in information submitted to the Website or the Survey shall be free for use for any purpose by Synergy without any restrictions whatsoever. You agree to hold Synergy, its successors and assigns, and its principals and staff harmless for Synergy’s use of any such submitted information and data. GENERAL PROVISIONS This Agreement shall be governed by, construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of Colorado. Any action brought by You or Synergy in connection with or related in any manner to the Website, Survey, Survey data, data analyses, or any portions thereof, Your use of the Website, Survey, any or all Survey data, data analyses or this Agreement shall be brought only in the courts located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, and You hereby consent to personal jurisdiction in such courts. If any provision of this Agreement is void or unenforceable in whole or in part, the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall not be affected thereby. ____________________ [1] Publicly available salary data provided by various Federal, state and local government agencies may be included in selected Survey results and data analyses to ensure a well-rounded representation of market rates. Any such publicly available data are collected directly from the agency, is current and has been audited by Synergy to ensure applicability, accuracy, and validity. Last Updated On 1/1/2023