What Counts as Refusing a DOT Drug Test?

49 CFR 40.191 lists the conduct that counts as a refusal to take a DOT drug test. Examples in the rule include failing to appear for a test, other than a pre-employment test, within a reasonable time after the employer's direction, failing to remain at the testing site until the testing process is complete, failing to provide a specimen and failing to permit a required observed or monitored collection.

The list also includes declining an additional test the employer or collector directs, failing to undergo a medical evaluation directed by the MRO or the DER, failing to cooperate with any part of the testing process and admitting to the collector or MRO that the specimen was adulterated or substituted. A verified adulterated or substituted result is also a refusal.

The rule states that an employee who leaves before the testing process begins for a pre-employment test has not refused. The collector notes conduct that may be a refusal on the CCF, but under 49 CFR 40.191(d)(1) the employer has the sole responsibility to decide whether a refusal occurred. For a pre-employment test, failing to undergo a directed medical evaluation counts as a refusal only if the test follows a contingent offer of employment.

A refusal carries the consequences that DOT agency regulations set for a violation. Under 40.191(e), refusing a non-DOT test or declining to sign a non-DOT form is not a refusal of a DOT test.

Related collection topics are covered in What Happens When an Employee Cannot Provide Enough Urine for a DOT Test? and When Is a DOT Urine Collection Directly Observed?. For motor carriers, Learn Laws® offers FMCSA Designated Employer Representative Training, which covers refusals under 49 CFR 40.191.

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