Last year, additional requirements were placed on employers that have DOT covered drivers as it relates to Drug & Alcohol Testing. In addition to the previous requirements, employers must now conduct pre-hire FULL queries of the FMCSA Clearinghouse AND employers are required to run a LIMITED Query on all CURRENT drivers at least once annually.
This communication relates to the annual LIMITED queries which are required at least once annually for all current drivers. The new FMCSA Clearinghouse requirements started on 01/06/2020, which means this annual check must be completed before 01/05/2021 (if it has not been previously completed). If you have designated Validity Screening Solutions as your Third-Party Administrator (TPA) with the FMCSA, then we can conduct these queries for you for a small administrative fee per driver.
Prior to conducting this LIMITED Query, your employee needs to have executed the proper written consent.
For Validity to conduct your queries, you would need to provide Validity a spreadsheet containing the name, DOB, CDL Number and CDL State for all your drivers. Many employers are opting to run this LIMITED query of the Clearinghouse is conjunction with the requirement to run the annual MVR check of your current drivers (this Clearinghouse LIMITED query is looking for Drug/Alcohol violations and does NOT replace the annual MVR requirement, it is in addition).
Below are some links to other helpful sites on this matter and should you have specific questions, Chris Feld, Validity’s Director-Strategic Initiatives can assist.
FMCSA Clearinghouse Help:
FMCSA Clearinghouse
Clearinghouse Learning Center
Sample Limited Consent Form
DOT-FMCSA Help:
FMCSA DOT Resources and Downloads
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations: Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse