What Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Queries Must Employers Run?

Under 49 CFR 382.701, employers must run a pre-employment query of the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse before a driver performs safety-sensitive functions, and must query the Clearinghouse at least once per year for every driver subject to testing.

The pre-employment query must be a full query, which releases the driver's Clearinghouse information and requires the driver's specific consent. For the annual check, the rule allows a limited query with the driver's consent. A limited query shows only whether information exists. If it does, the rule requires a full query within 24 hours.

The section also states that employers must keep a record of each query and the information received for 3 years, and that FMCSA notifies an employer if new violation information is entered for a driver within 30 days after that employer's query. Since January 6, 2023, an employer that keeps a valid Clearinghouse registration meets this recordkeeping requirement.

A Clearinghouse query is one part of an employer's testing program. Employers that use a C/TPA for administrative tasks, as described in the 49 CFR 40.3 definition, can find C/TPAs in the MyDrugTesting.com directory by location and service.