New Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Rules Are Coming

Under federal rules, motor carriers are required to conduct drug and alcohol violation background checks prior to hiring any driver. Beginning January 6, 2023, motor carriers conducting such checks on prospective drivers will no longer need to contact the applicant’s previous employers. That’s because the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse will have accumulated three years of data by then, meeting the timeframe required by law.

Researching driver histories with previous employers was always difficult, with uncertain results. Other carriers might not have kept the driver records; they might not respond to the requests; and many may not be in business anymore. As of January 6, those efforts should be dropped. Instead, motor carriers must make electronic queries through the Clearinghouse.

As a reminder, motor carriers must continue to conduct their annual queries to the Clearinghouse for drug and alcohol violations by existing drivers. Those annual queries are on a 12-month rolling basis… e.g., for a driver first retained in February, the employer must query the Clearinghouse by the following February. Those “limited” queries, where the employer is just checking for the existence of any Clearinghouse record, do require the general consent of the employed driver. 

Click here for a sample consent form 

To access the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, visit the website and follow the prompts. We suggest you bookmark this link for future reference.