What Records Can a C/TPA Keep for an Employer?

Under 49 CFR 40.349(a), a service agent such as a C/TPA may receive and maintain all records concerning DOT drug and alcohol testing programs, including positive, negative and refusal results, without the employee's consent. Under 40.349(b), it may also keep the information needed to operate a program for an employer, such as CCFs, alcohol testing forms, names of employees in random pools, random selection lists and copies of selection notices.

Under 40.349(e), the C/TPA must be able to make available to the employer within two business days any information a DOT agency representative asks the employer to produce. Under 40.349(f), when the employer asks, the C/TPA must transfer immediately all records about the employer and its employees to the employer or another service agent the employer designates. The rule states that the C/TPA may not charge a fee for the release of the records and must not charge more than reasonable administrative costs for the transfer. Under 40.349(g), a service agent that plans to go out of business, or that will be bought by or merged with another organization, must immediately notify all employers and offer to transfer all their records, and must carry out the transfer as soon as the employer asks.

Under 49 CFR 40.351(b), a service agent follows the confidentiality and records retention requirements that apply to employers. For motor carriers, the employer retention periods are set in 49 CFR 382.401.

Retention periods are covered in How Long Must Motor Carriers Keep Drug and Alcohol Testing Records?, and employee requests for copies in Can an Employee Get a Copy of DOT Drug Test Records?.

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