What Testing Records Must Employers Request from Previous DOT Employers?

Before an employee performs safety-sensitive duties for the first time, a DOT-regulated employer asks the employee's previous DOT-regulated employers about drug and alcohol testing violations. Under 49 CFR 40.25(a)(1), the employer gets the employee's written consent first. This applies to new hires and to employees transferring into a safety-sensitive position. If the employee refuses consent, the employer must not permit the employee to perform safety-sensitive functions.

Under 40.25(b), the request goes to DOT-regulated employers that employed the employee during the two years before the application or transfer, and covers:

• Alcohol tests with a result of 0.04 or higher alcohol concentration
• Verified positive drug tests
• Refusals to be tested, including verified adulterated or substituted drug test results
• Other violations of DOT agency drug and alcohol testing regulations
• For an employee who violated a DOT drug and alcohol regulation, documentation of successful completion of the return-to-duty requirements, including follow-up tests

Under 40.25(d), the employer obtains and reviews the information before the employee first performs safety-sensitive functions if feasible. Otherwise, the employee may not perform those functions after 30 days from the date the employee first performed safety-sensitive functions unless the employer has obtained the information or made and documented a good faith effort to obtain it. Under 40.25(j), the employer also asks the employee whether he or she tested positive, or refused to test, on any pre-employment drug or alcohol test given in the past two years by an employer to which the employee applied for, but did not obtain, safety-sensitive transportation work covered by DOT testing rules.

Under 40.25(a)(2), FMCSA-regulated employers meet this requirement through the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, and they still check testing history with employers regulated by other DOT agencies. Under 40.25(i), the requesting employer keeps a confidential written record of the information or of its good faith efforts for three years from the date of the employee's first performance of safety-sensitive duties for that employer. Clearinghouse queries are covered in What Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Queries Must Employers Run?. Follow-up testing with a new employer is covered in Do DOT Follow-Up Tests Continue with a New Employer?.

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