NOTIFICATIONS

Customize How You Receive System Notifications from the Clearinghouse

A new feature that makes it easier to see your latest account activity is now available. When you log in to the Clearinghouse, you will see a bell icon in the top right corner of the screen. If you have new notifications, a dark blue dot will appear next to this icon. Click on the bell icon to open your Notifications box and see your most recent notifications. (Note: The bell icon and Notifications list are not currently viewable on mobile devices.)

New items in your Notifications list are marked with a light blue dot. These dots will appear until a notification has been read. Click on a notification to mark it as read, or click Mark all read to remove all blue dots in your notification list.

Employers that are registered as owner-operators, and who have a verified CDL in their account, will see the notifications below.

When using the Clearinghouse under their Driver user role, owner-operators will be notified when:

• An employer or consortium/third-party administrator (C/TPA) has sent a consent request for a pre-employment query, or other full query.
• Violation information has been released to an employer or C/TPA (after consent has been provided).
• Violation information has been entered in, modified, or removed from your Clearinghouse record.

When under an Employer user role, owner-operators will be notified when:

• Another driver you employ (if any) has responded to a consent request for a pre-employment query, or other full query.

Customize Your Notifications

You can control how you receive your notifications. While logged in to the Clearinghouse, click on the bell icon to open your Notifications box and click on Settings. This will take you to your Notification Settings page where you will see a list of all your notifications, as well as the notification methods currently set for each. Click change setting to turn a notification on or off. If you turn off an “In Clearinghouse” notification, you will not receive that notification in your Notifications box.

Per § 382.707, FMCSA must notify a driver when information concerning that driver has been added to, revised, or removed from the Clearinghouse. These notifications are sent either by email or U.S. Mail. Registered drivers can update this preference, which they selected during registration, in the Notification Settings page. Owner-operators cannot turn off these notifications.

Drivers who are not registered for the Clearinghouse will only receive these notifications via U.S. Mail. FMCSA will send the letter to the mailing address associated with that driver’s commercial driver’s license (CDL). Any CDL driver, including owner-operators, may switch to email notifications by registering for the Clearinghouse and changing this notification setting.

Log in to the Clearinghouse to customize your notifications.

Log in to the Clearinghouse →

If you don’t have a Clearinghouse account, register today.

Refusing Consent: What Does It Mean?

Per § 382.703, an employer cannot access a driver’s Clearinghouse record without first obtaining that driver’s consent. The type of consent depends on the type of query the employer, or their service agent, is conducting.

Before conducting a limited query, an employer must obtain general consent outside of the Clearinghouse. This may be obtained in writing, and may be valid for multiple years. View a sample general consent request.

Before conducting a full query, an employer must obtain the driver’s specific consent. This includes all pre-employment queries. This specific consent must be obtained electronically in the Clearinghouse. A driver must be registered and logged in to the Clearinghouse to respond to a consent request for a full query.

What happens if a driver does not consent to a query?

If a driver does not consent to the query, it means the employer requesting the consent cannot access that driver’s Clearinghouse record. This also means the employer cannot verify that the driver does not have an unresolved drug and alcohol program violation in their Clearinghouse record.

Therefore, by refusing to consent to an employer’s query consent request, a driver is prohibited from performing safety-sensitive functions, including operating a commercial motor vehicle (CMV), for that employer. Refusing consent to one employer does not affect a driver’s eligibility for performing safety-sensitive functions for other employers.

Learn more about queries and consent requests

Email sent: 10/6/2020