• Employers must be careful not to report inaccurate information to the Clearinghouse.
• A violation reported in error to the Clearinghouse will put the driver in a prohibited status.

Being listed as “prohibited” in the Clearinghouse is a serious matter for any commercial driver. That’s why it’s critical for employers to know when they should — and should NOT — report a violation to the Clearinghouse. The violations that employers must report to the Clearinghouse are listed in 49 CFR 382.705.

Don’t report these

The following types of infractions may have consequences of their own, but they should NOT result in a violation report to the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse:

• A DUI/DWI citation involving a personal vehicle or a commercial vehicle that does not require a CDL. This is not “actual knowledge” of a violation as defined in 382.107 because it did not involve a CDL-class vehicle.
• The results of any non-FMCSA-required test, such as a company-required test, a test on a CDL holder who does not drive, or a test under another DOT agency. The Clearinghouse only tracks violations that occur under FMCSA rules in Part 382.
• A driver’s self-admission of a violation that falls under your company’s voluntary self-admission policy, if you have one that complies with 382.121, Employee admission of alcohol and controlled substances use.
• Failure to show up for a pre-employment test, which is not a “refusal to test” as defined in 382.107.
• The results of any test performed prior to January 6, 2020, before the Clearinghouse began operations.
• Any return-to-duty or follow-up test result (received at any time) based on a violation that occurred prior to January 6, 2020.

Use caution when entering violations

In addition to the above, use caution when entering violations in the Clearinghouse, because entering wrong information can have long-lasting consequences.

For example, suppose you mistakenly try to enter a positive drug test result that your MRO has already reported. You don’t see an option to select a positive drug test (since employers cannot report those) so you pick alcohol instead. This will result in a separate violation in the system, unnecessarily penalizing the driver for a violation that never happened.