The Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is a secure, integrated online database administered by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration also knows as the (FMCSA). All employers in the transportation industry must maintain and have access to the Clearinghouse. An employer who wants to hire someone with a commercial driver's license will search the clearinghouse database to learn more about the prospective employee. Employers in the trucking and transportation sectors can benefit greatly from the DOT (Department of Transportation) Clearinghouse. The establishment of this database involves a significant employer contribution, and it is required by law.

The Clearinghouse makes it simple for employers to share information about drug and alcohol violations, which improves the impact and reliability of the pre-employment screening process. Now that the DOT Clearinghouse has three full years' worth of violation records, FMCSA motor carriers using the Clearinghouse to conduct pre-employment queries will be in compliance with the requirement to look into a potential new hire driver's history of drug and/or alcohol violations for FMCSA.

Real-time results are provided by the DOT Clearinghouse, guaranteeing that companies may obtain the most recent data when making hiring decisions. This promptness is essential for protecting the general public's safety when traveling and for making essential hiring choices.

Employers must pay a fee to run both limited and comprehensive searches via the Clearinghouse. Registration and other Clearinghouse activities are free of charge. Employers can buy a query plan that works for their company's requirements.

Only registered employers may purchase query plans from the FMCSA Clearinghouse website. Once a driver is registered in the Clearinghouse, he or she will be able to access his or her Clearinghouse record electronically, at no cost. This record would include any drug and alcohol program violation information available in the Clearinghouse, along with the status of their return-to-duty.

Only violations that happened on or after January 6, 2020, are included in the Clearinghouse. Any violations and any associated return to duty activity won't be entered into the Clearinghouse if a driver committed a violation before January 6, 2020.

The same regulations that apply to employers and drivers apply to an owner-operator. According to the Clearinghouse final regulation, an employer who hires themselves as CDL drivers must appoint a consortium/third-party administrator (C/TPA) to fulfill that company's Clearinghouse reporting obligations.

The clearinghouse requires that employers, consortia/third-party administrators (C/TPAs), medical review officers (MROs), and substance abuse professionals (SAPs) register their business. A person from each company manages the individual users while also acting as the account's Clearinghouse administrator.

The Clearinghouse can solely receive reports of DOT drug and alcohol test results and refusals. The Clearinghouse may not receive positive test results or refusals for non-DOT testing, even if employers are permitted to conduct drug and alcohol tests that fall outside the reach of DOT testing rules.

In order to retain comprehensive and accurate information on drivers who are known to regularly migrate from one state to another, the Clearinghouse will identify those drivers who move frequently and who receive CDLs in those several States and link those CDLs.

When an employer finds out that the information in a driver's Clearinghouse record has changed, the employer is required to complete a thorough follow-up query within 24 hours to find out whether the new information prevents the driver from performing safety-sensitive tasks, like driving a commercial vehicle.

The driver must electronically give the Clearinghouse his or her personal consent before the employer can perform the follow-on query. If the driver declines to give specific consent, the employer is required by 49 CFR 382.703(c) to suspend the driver from safety-sensitive duties until a full query is made and the results become available. Only if the query returns a "Not Forbidden" status after the full query has been completed, the driver may continue to operate the safety sensitive position.

To learn more about how to register for the clearinghouse, you can visit the direct website for the FMCSA clearinghouse and begin registration there. Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse - REGISTRATION: CDL DRIVERS (dot.gov)