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United States Department of Transportation
FMCSA - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Adminstration

Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse

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Showing you results for: “three years”

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Now that three years have passed since the Clearinghouse was implemented, how will prospective employers comply with the investigation and inquiry requirements of 49 CFR 391.23(e)?

As of January 6, 2023, when three years of violation data is stored in the Clearinghouse, 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 §§ 382.413(b) and 391.23(e)(4), as it pertains to previous FMCSA-regulated employers. Inquiries not conducted under § 382.701(a) will not satisfy these inquiry requirements.

However, if a prospective employee was subject to drug and alcohol testing by a Department of Transportation (DOT) mode other than the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), (Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, etc.), prospective employers must continue to request drug and alcohol violation information from those DOT-regulated employers in accordance with § 391.23(e)(4)(ii), since violation information for other DOT modes is not reported to the Clearinghouse.

Last Updated : January 09, 2023

Are employers required to retain records of each Clearinghouse query and all information received in response to each query to meet the requirements of 49 CFR 382.701(e) and 391.53(b)(2)?

No. As of January 6, 2020, an employer’s valid registration in the Clearinghouse satisfies record retention requirements in §§ 382.701(e) and 391.53(b)(2) since the Clearinghouse now contains three years of drug and alcohol violation data.

The Clearinghouse retains a record of every query an employer conducts. This includes any queries conducted by a designated consortium/third-party administrator (C/TPA) on their behalf. Employers may choose to maintain separate copies of their Clearinghouse queries in a driver qualification file or driver investigation history file or other location but are not required to do so as of January 6, 2023.

However, under § 391.53(b)(2), if the employee was subject to drug and alcohol testing by a Department of Transportation (DOT) mode other than FMCSA, (Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, etc.), employers must continue to retain copies of responses received from those DOT-regulated employers in the driver investigation history file, since violation information for other DOT modes is not reported to the Clearinghouse.

Last Updated : January 09, 2023