11/10/2022 00:36
Employers of CDL drivers are required to conduct background investigations before hiring a driver. This process includes determining if the driver has violated the drug and alcohol regulations of any Department of Transportation (DOT) mode within the past three years (see 49 CFR 391.23(e)). Currently, this requires employers or their designated consortia/third-party administrators (C/TPAs) to conduct both electronic queries in the Clearinghouse and manual inquiries with previous employers to meet the three-year time frame.
Beginning January 6, 2023, when three years of violation data is stored in
the Clearinghouse, prospective employers must not conduct manual inquiries. In accordance
with §§ 382.413(b) and 391.23(e)(4), beginning January 6, 2023, prospective
employers must conduct a pre-employment query of the Clearinghouse, as set
forth in § 382.701(a), to comply with the inquiry requirement in § 391.23(e) as
it pertains to FMCSA-regulated employers.
NOTE: The Clearinghouse contains only information about
drivers employed by FMCSA-regulated employers. If a prospective employee was
employed by an employer regulated by a DOT agency other than FMCSA (such as the
Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Federal
Aviation Administration, etc.) during the three-year time frame, prospective
employers will still be required to directly request drug and alcohol violation
information from those DOT-regulated employers in accordance with
391.23(e)(4)(ii), since this information is not reported to the Clearinghouse.
Employers of CDL drivers must conduct a query in the Clearinghouse at least
once a year for each CDL driver they employ (see § 382.701(b)). This annual query requirement applies on a
rolling 12-month basis, which means that if you conducted your last annual
queries in December 2021, it is time to conduct the next round of annual
queries.
Employers must obtain general consent from CDL drivers they employ before conducting limited queries in the Clearinghouse to view these drivers’ information.
In 2012, Congress passed and President Obama signed the “Moving Ahead for
Progress in the 21st Century Act,” a transportation reauthorization bill
referred to as “MAP-21.” That law directed the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA) to create a means of identifying and tracking commercial
drivers who violate the agency’s drug and alcohol testing program, to ensure
that drivers with a history of violating the drug and alcohol regulations are
taken off the road until they demonstrate compliance with those rules. On
January 6, 2020, nearly eight years later, an FMCSA database called the
Commercial Driver’s License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse) will
launch. As of this date, employers that use commercial drivers must observe new
reporting and query requirements adopted to implement this ambitious safety
rule.
The Clearinghouse will enable employers to more easily identify drivers who
commit a drug or alcohol program violation while working for one employer, but
who fail to subsequently inform another employer. Records of drug and alcohol
program violations will remain in the Clearinghouse for five years, or until
the driver has completed the return-to-duty process, whichever is later.
Compliance with Clearinghouse reporting and query requirements are mandatory to
achieve a compliant FMCSA drug and alcohol program.
The FMCSA is the federal agency within the Department of Transportation
(DOT) that enforces drug and alcohol testing rules and regulations for
employees who drive commercial trucks and buses, as well as vehicles that carry
hazardous materials. These regulations apply to any driver who holds a
commercial driver’s license, and set out drug and alcohol testing requirements
in addition to general rules on drug and alcohol use.1 The
regulations also provide detailed instructions on the steps Covered Drivers
must complete if they violate those regulations and wish to resume performing
safety-sensitive driving work for any employer. Covered Drivers who have
committed drug and alcohol violations are ineligible to operate a commercial
motor vehicle on public roads until they have completed a federally-mandated
return-to-duty process.
Before the creation of the Clearinghouse, every FMCSA-regulated employer has been required to take proactive steps to verify the drug and alcohol testing record of any Covered Driver about to begin performing safety-sensitive functions (either as a new hire or via internal transfer), primarily by querying the driver’s prior employers. If the record showed that the Covered Driver previously violated a drug and alcohol testing regulation, the employer could not allow the driver to perform a safety-sensitive function until the employer confirmed that the driver successfully completed mandatory return-to-duty requirements.
This will surely help your company and at Labworks USA, it is more important
than ever for us to manage your Clearinghouse responsibilities.
If you need support NOW, feel
free to reach out to us here.