The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is a secure database that tracks CDL holders who have tested positive for prohibited drug and alcohol use and who have committed other drug- and alcohol-related violations. It also tracks the return-to-duty status of drivers who were involved in such violations.

Making a query

Employers must query the Clearinghouse for all prospective employees’ drug and alcohol violations prior to permitting them to drive a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) requiring a CDL on public roads. They must also query the Clearinghouse once per year for existing drivers. There are two types of queries: full and limited. A full query is required during pre-employment screening. It will show any violation of Part 382 drug and alcohol testing procedures, as well as the driver’s status once the driver has completed any of the return-to-duty steps after a violation.

The annual query is a limited query. This simply asks if a particular driver has any records in the database.

Take note, the Clearinghouse will contain information only for violations that occur on or after January 6, 2020; no historical data will be available. Because of this, employers were required to contact the applicant’s previous DOT-regulated employers from the previous three years and ask them the drug- and alcohol-related safety performance history questions (SPH) as required in 391.23.

However, as of January 6, 2023, carriers must still conduct the SPH on applicants, but will no longer be required to ask the drug- and alcohol-related SPH questions. The Clearinghouse is the sole source used to learn of FMCSA testing violations for new hires.

Driver consent

To conduct a limited query, the driver only needs to have signed a written release covering a certain time frame. However, if the limited query turns up data on the driver, the carrier must conduct a full query within 24 hours using the full query process (and must receive consent from the driver in that time frame or the driver may not continue driving).

When an employer initiates a full query, the driver will be notified and must give consent electronically in the Clearinghouse for that query to take place (the driver must be registered on the Clearinghouse site). Once the Clearinghouse receives the electronic consent from the driver, any record that exists on that driver will be released to the employer.

This is the part in the process where slowdowns can occur. Drivers are encouraged to register for the Clearinghouse so they can respond to requests for consent quickly. If drivers are not registered, requests and responses must be handled via regular mail using the address on the driver’s license, which will delay the process.