By the TruckerNavi compliance team, led by Dmitry Borovoy, a New Jersey-licensed insurance producer and author of "Safety Manager: From Zero to Expert".
Short answer: before a CDL driver performs any safety-sensitive function you must run a full pre-employment query in the Clearinghouse with the driver's electronic consent, and after that you must query every driver at least once a year, usually as a limited query (49 CFR § 382.701(a)-(b)). If a limited query comes back "information exists", you have 24 hours to run a full query; miss it and the driver is off safety-sensitive work until a full query shows no prohibitions (§ 382.701(b)(3)). Consent for a limited query is a written form kept outside the system that can run for more than a year; consent for a full query is given electronically inside the Clearinghouse before every full query (§ 382.703). A query costs $1.25, and a limited query that turns into a full one is charged once (Clearinghouse query plan). An owner-operator who drives for his own company must designate a C/TPA, because the rule does not let a person report his own violations (§ 382.705(b)(6)). A driver in prohibited status may not perform safety-sensitive functions (§ 382.501), and since November 18, 2024 the state must complete a CDL downgrade within 60 days of receiving FMCSA's notice (§ 383.73(q)).
Two things are deliberately not here. The annual query, screen by screen, is already written up in how the annual Clearinghouse query works. Setting up a driver's personal Clearinghouse account is covered in FMCSA Clearinghouse registration. This article is the employer's side of the database: which query, on which consent, by which deadline, who reports what, how long the paper lives, and what happens to the license when the status turns prohibited.
Subpart G of Part 382 puts three mandatory queries on every employer of CDL drivers, and the Clearinghouse FAQ adds a fourth that is not in the rule text but that FMCSA expects you to run.
The annual query itself is a mechanical process and it is already described step by step in how the annual Clearinghouse query works, so one paragraph is enough here. The requirement is tracked on a rolling 365-day basis, not by calendar year, and any query on that driver, including a follow-on after a notice, restarts the count (Clearinghouse FAQ, updated March 9, 2023). Run it as a limited query on a general consent and it costs one query per driver per year.
Who has to do this at all: only employers of drivers who hold a CDL or CLP and fall under Parts 382 and 383 (Clearinghouse FAQ). A brokerage with no drivers has nothing to query. For non-CDL drivers the older previous-employer check under § 391.23(e) still applies. Since January 6, 2023, for FMCSA-regulated previous employers the Clearinghouse query is the drug-and-alcohol part of that check (§ 382.413(b)); employers regulated by other DOT agencies (FRA, FTA, FAA, PHMSA) you still ask directly, and § 40.25 gives you 30 days after the driver first performs safety-sensitive functions to get those answers back, covering the two years before the application. The rest of the previous-employer investigation is a separate file and is covered in the previous-employer safety history check.
Two details from the FAQ that save arguments: a road test given before hiring does not require a pre-employment query, because the query is tied to employment for safety-sensitive functions, not to the test drive (FAQ, May 25, 2022); and a Clearinghouse outage does not suspend the requirement unless FMCSA posts a notice on the Clearinghouse home page, in which case you may hire under § 391.23(e) and must run the query once the system is back (FAQ, May 13, 2022).
| Query type | When it is required | What it shows | Which consent | Where it is recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-employment, full | Before the driver's first safety-sensitive function, § 382.701(a) | The full record: violations, actual-knowledge reports, SAP report, RTD result, follow-up status | Electronic consent inside the Clearinghouse, before each full query | Query History in your account; the rule requires 3 years, and since January 6, 2023 a valid registration counts as keeping it (§ 382.701(e)) |
| Annual, limited | At least once per rolling 365 days per driver, § 382.701(b) | Only whether information exists | Written general consent outside the system, with a stated timeframe; may run more than a year | Query History plus your folder of signed limited-consent forms, kept 3 years (§ 382.703(a)) |
| Full after "information exists" | Within 24 hours of the limited query, § 382.701(b)(3) | The details behind the flag and the driver's current status | Electronic consent inside the Clearinghouse | Query History; the limited-plus-full pair is charged as one query |
| Follow-on after an FMCSA notice | FMCSA recommends within 24 hours of the email (FAQ) | Whatever was added since your last query | Electronic consent inside the Clearinghouse | Query History; it also restarts the driver's 365-day annual clock |
A limited query is a yes-or-no answer. The Clearinghouse tells you whether there is information about the driver and nothing else (§ 382.701(b)(2)). A full query opens the record. Under § 382.703(b) the driver's electronic consent grants you access to a specific list: verified positive, adulterated or substituted drug tests; alcohol confirmation tests of 0.04 or higher; refusals to test; employer reports of actual knowledge; the SAP's report that the driver completed the return-to-duty process; a negative return-to-duty test; and completion of follow-up testing. The last three items matter as much as the first four, because they are what turns a flagged driver back into a hireable one.
What actually makes a driver prohibited by a query is set out in § 382.701(d): a verified positive, adulterated or substituted result, alcohol at 0.04 or higher, a refusal under § 382.211, or an actual-knowledge report under §§ 382.205 to 382.213. Two exceptions let you keep or hire the driver anyway. Under (d)(1) the prohibition is gone when the driver has completed the SAP evaluation and treatment process, has a negative return-to-duty test and has finished the follow-up plan. Under (d)(2) you may take a driver whose follow-up plan is not finished if the SAP process and the negative RTD test are done and you assume responsibility for managing the rest of the follow-up tests. What the driver goes through on the other side of that record is in what happens after a positive drug test for a CDL driver.
One more difference: what FMCSA tells you afterwards. The rule promises a notice if information is added within 30 days of your query (§ 382.701(c)); the Clearinghouse extended that in practice to 12 months after a pre-employment or annual query (FAQ, March 8, 2023). Either way the notice is an email, and it is only useful if the address on the account is one somebody reads.
Within 24 hours of running the limited query. § 382.701(b)(3) is one sentence with no soft edges: if the limited query shows information exists, the employer must conduct a full query within 24 hours; if the employer fails to do so, the driver must not continue to perform any safety-sensitive function until a full query is run and the results confirm the record contains no prohibitions. Note what the rule does not say. It does not say the driver must stop the moment the flag appears. It says the driver stops when your 24 hours run out without a full query. So the working sequence is: limited query, flag, consent request to the driver the same hour, full query as soon as the driver responds, decision.
The full query needs the driver's electronic consent inside the Clearinghouse, which means the driver has to be registered and logged in to respond (FMCSA notice on query requirements). If the driver refuses to consent, § 382.703(c) is blunt: you may not let that driver perform a safety-sensitive function. That refusal binds only your company; FMCSA has said in the same notice that refusing consent to one employer does not affect the driver's eligibility with other employers. The same 24 hours applies, as an FMCSA recommendation rather than rule text, to the follow-on query after an FMCSA email about new information. On money: a limited query that turns into a full query is charged once, not twice (Clearinghouse query plan).
Nothing happens in the Clearinghouse without consent. § 382.703(a): no employer may query the Clearinghouse for a particular driver without first obtaining that driver's written or electronic consent, and the employer must keep that consent for 3 years from the date of the last query it covers. From there the two query types split.
The Clearinghouse notifies the driver when a query is run. Under § 382.707(c) that notice goes by U.S. Mail to the address on file with the state licensing agency unless the driver has given the Clearinghouse an alternative means, such as an email address. If a driver refuses consent, § 382.703(c) forbids letting that driver perform a safety-sensitive function. Nothing in the rule requires you to explain why; the refusal itself closes the question.
Reporting has more deadlines than querying, and they are counted in business days. § 382.705 assigns them by role.
Your written policy has to list what will be reported to the Clearinghouse (§ 382.601(b)(12)), and every driver signs a statement that he received the policy (§ 382.601(d)). § 382.705(e) adds that every person with access must report truthfully and accurately. What does not go in is just as useful to know: a termination as such is not reported; negative tests, other than the return-to-duty test, are not reported; an alcohol result between 0.02 and 0.039 is not a subpart B violation and does not go in, though § 382.505(a) still takes the driver off safety-sensitive work until the next regularly scheduled duty period and for at least 24 hours; and results of non-DOT tests never go in. Post-accident tests run on their own clock, 2 hours for alcohol, 8 hours to stop trying, 32 hours for drugs, and are the subject of the post-accident testing rules.
| Action | Deadline | Rule | Who answers for it when a C/TPA is designated |
|---|---|---|---|
| MRO reports a positive, adulterated or substituted result, or an MRO-determined refusal | Within 2 business days | § 382.705(a)(1) | The MRO |
| Employer reports 0.04 or higher, a negative RTD test, employer-determined refusals, follow-up completion | By the close of the third business day | § 382.705(b)(1) | The employer; a C/TPA may enter it, the employer keeps responsibility (§ 382.705(c)) |
| Employer reports actual knowledge, with evidence and certificate of service | By the close of the third business day | § 382.705(b)(4)-(5) | The employer |
| Owner-operator's own violations | Same clock | § 382.705(b)(6) | The designated C/TPA, and responsibility shifts to it (§ 382.705(c)) |
| SAP reports the initial assessment and RTD eligibility | By the close of the next business day | § 382.705(d) | The SAP |
| Driver notifies other current employers in writing | End of the next business day, or before safety-sensitive work | § 382.415 | The driver |
| Full query after a limited query flagged | Within 24 hours | § 382.701(b)(3) | The employer; a designated C/TPA may run it |
| Follow-on query after an FMCSA email | Within 24 hours (FMCSA recommendation) | Clearinghouse FAQ | The employer |
| Update the C/TPA designation and its authorization | Within 10 days of the change | § 382.711(b)(3) | The employer |
| Verify the authorized users on the account | Annually | § 382.711(b)(2) | The employer |
| FMCSA notice of new information after a query | 30 days by rule; 12 months in practice since March 8, 2023 | § 382.701(c); FAQ | FMCSA |
| Petition to correct an erroneous record | FMCSA decides within 45 days; expedited 14 days; administrative review 30 days | § 382.717 | The driver |
| State completes the CDL downgrade after a prohibited notice | Within 60 days of receiving the notice | § 383.73(q) | The state licensing agency |
| Clearinghouse registration | Valid 5 years; cancelled after 2 years without a query or report | § 382.713 | The employer |
Because the rule says so in one sentence, and the sentence is not an inference. § 382.705(b)(6): "An employer who employs himself/herself as a driver must designate a C/TPA to comply with the employer requirements in paragraph (b) of this section related to his or her own alcohol and controlled substances use." Paragraph (b) is the employer's reporting duty. The logic is simple: nobody is expected to report his own positive test to a federal database, so the reporting for an owner-operator's own use is handed to a consortium/third-party administrator, and § 382.705(c) moves the responsibility with it. For every other duty the employer keeps ultimate responsibility even when a C/TPA does the work; for the owner-operator's own violations, the exception in (c) makes the designated C/TPA the responsible party.
The rest of the owner-operator's position follows from the definitions in § 382.107: "employer" includes an individual who is self-employed, and "driver" includes an owner-operator. So the same person carries both sets of duties. The Clearinghouse FAQ says it directly: owner-operators must comply with all Clearinghouse requirements imposed on both employers and employees, and the designated C/TPA may conduct queries on their behalf. That means the annual query on yourself is a real obligation, and the Query History on your own account is what an auditor opens. How this works mechanically:
No, and FMCSA has answered the question in writing. § 382.305(i) requires selections made by a scientifically valid method, with each driver having an equal chance of being tested each time selections are made, and testing within the selection period. A pool of one cannot meet that, and it cannot keep the test date unknown to the person being tested. FMCSA's random-testing Q&A (Q8) states that companies with only one CDL driver, such as owner-operators, who are not leased to another motor carrier are required to place the driver in a consortium for random testing. The rule allows exactly that: under § 382.305(j)(2) you may use a service agent such as a C/TPA to perform selections, and your drivers may be part of a larger pool, while you remain responsible for meeting the rate. Part-time and occasional drivers stay in the pool at all times (Q7), and tests must be unannounced and spread reasonably throughout the calendar year (§ 382.305(k)). The arithmetic of pool size and rates is worked through in random testing rates and how the pool works.
For 2026 the FMCSA minimum annual rates are 50 percent for controlled substances and 10 percent for alcohol, measured against the average number of driver positions. The rate table kept by DOT's Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance (updated January 15, 2026) states that the FMCSA rates did not change for 2026, so no Federal Register notice was required; the same figures are the floor written into § 382.305(b)(1)-(2). A consortium pool has to hit those percentages across the whole pool, which is one more reason a pool of one does not work. How the rate is counted against driver positions and what it means for a small pool is in random testing rates and how the pool works.
§ 382.401 sets four retention periods and a list of what goes in each. The records must be kept in a secure location with controlled access, and § 382.401(d) requires them to be made available for inspection at the employer's principal place of business within two business days after a request by an authorized FMCSA representative. Where a service agent holds records for you, § 382.405(d) makes that agent equally bound to produce them when a DOT or state official asks. A driver is entitled, on written request, to copies of any records about his own tests, and you must provide them promptly (§ 382.405(b)).
| Record category | Keep for | Rule | Who holds it when a C/TPA is involved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alcohol results of 0.02 or higher; verified positive drug results; refusals; SAP evaluations and referrals; EBT calibration; program administration records including all violations; annual MIS summaries | 5 years | § 382.401(b)(1) | The employer; the C/TPA may hold copies and must produce them on request (§ 382.405(d)) |
| Collection-process records, other than EBT calibration | 2 years | § 382.401(b)(2) | The employer, with the collection site and C/TPA |
| Negative and cancelled drug results; MRO reversals; alcohol results below 0.02 | 1 year | § 382.401(b)(3) | The employer; the MRO and C/TPA keep negatives 1 year as well (§ 382.409) |
| Training records: BATs, STTs, supervisors, driver education | While the person performs the function, plus 2 years | § 382.401(b)(4) | The employer |
| Agreements with laboratories, MROs, collection sites, consortia and C/TPAs; names and roles of everyone in the program; the written policy | 5 years, as program administration records | § 382.401(c)(6) | The employer |
| Clearinghouse query records and everything received in response | 3 years; since January 6, 2023 a valid registration fulfills it | § 382.701(e) | The employer's Clearinghouse account |
| Limited-query consent forms | 3 years from the last query they cover; not required in the DQ file | § 382.703(a); FAQ | The employer, paper or scanned |
| Previous-employer drug and alcohol inquiries under Part 40 | 3 years | § 40.25(i) | The employer |
| MRO and C/TPA copies of results | 5 years for positives and refusals; 1 year for negatives and cancelled | § 382.409 | The MRO, the C/TPA |
| The violation inside the Clearinghouse | 5 years from the violation determination, and until the RTD process is complete | § 382.719 | FMCSA |
| Annual MIS report, when FMCSA requests one | Submitted by March 15; a C/TPA may prepare it, a company official signs | § 382.403 | The employer |
Prohibited is a Clearinghouse status that follows a violation of subpart B of Part 382. The consequences are in § 382.501: the driver may not perform safety-sensitive functions, including driving a commercial motor vehicle, and no employer may permit it. There is only one way back, and it runs through Part 40 subpart O: an evaluation by a substance abuse professional, education or treatment, a negative return-to-duty test, and a follow-up testing plan. Under § 40.307 that plan has at least six unannounced tests in the first 12 months of safety-sensitive duty, the SAP may extend it by up to 48 more months, the plan follows the driver to any new employer, and the driver is never told the schedule. A carrier may hire a driver mid-plan if the SAP process and the negative RTD test are done and the carrier takes over managing the remaining tests (§ 382.701(d)(2)).
How long it is visible: § 382.719 keeps the record available to employers until four conditions are all met: the SAP's report, the negative RTD test, completion of follow-up testing, and five years since the violation determination. A driver who never starts the RTD process stays prohibited past the five years. What is not prohibited: an alcohol result between 0.02 and 0.039, which is a 24-hour stand-down under § 382.505(a) and nothing more. If a record is wrong, the driver petitions FMCSA under § 382.717; only administrative errors can be corrected, together with employer reports of actual knowledge or of a refusal filed in violation of § 382.705(b)(3) or (b)(5), never test results, and FMCSA answers within 45 days, 14 in expedited cases, with 30 days for administrative review. An employer may use what it sees only to decide whether a prohibition applies, and may not pass it to anyone else (§ 382.723(b)). A hair test does not change any of this: Part 40 recognizes urine and oral fluid, and § 40.13(f) says no one may change or disregard the result of a DOT test based on a non-DOT test.
This is the part of the rule that changed everything for drivers. Under § 383.73(q), beginning November 18, 2024, when a state licensing agency receives notification that a CLP or CDL holder is prohibited under § 382.501(a), it must initiate its downgrade procedure, and the downgrade must be completed and recorded on the CDLIS driver record within 60 days of the state's receipt of that notification. Read the clock correctly: the 60 days do not run from the test date or from the day the MRO reported; they run from the day the state received FMCSA's notice. Downgrade means the removal of the CLP or CDL privilege from the license.
Three paragraphs of the same section decide how it ends.
The same date brought the other half of what FMCSA calls Clearinghouse-II: since November 18, 2024, states query the Clearinghouse before issuing, renewing, transferring or upgrading a CLP or CDL, and removing a restriction counts as an upgrade (§ 383.73(a)-(f); CDL-downgrade FAQ). FMCSA's own summary is that a prohibited status now results in losing or being denied a CDL or CLP. For the company that means a prohibited driver cannot wait it out on a non-CDL job and come back on his own timetable; the license itself is gone until the RTD process is done. A lapsed medical certificate triggers its own 60-day downgrade elsewhere in § 383.73, a different mechanism with a different cure, and the two should not be confused.
A new entrant safety audit and a compliance review score Part 382 differently, but both start from the same folder. For a new entrant, § 385.321(b) lists violations that fail the audit on a single occurrence, and five of them are drug and alcohol. One instance of any of them and the audit fails. How the rest of the audit is scored, the acute and critical mechanism of Appendix B to Part 385 and the full list of automatic failures, is covered in the new entrant audit guide; here is only the Part 382 slice.
| Rule | What is violated | Result for a new entrant | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| § 382.115(a) | No drug and alcohol testing program implemented | Single occurrence fails the audit | § 385.321(b) |
| § 382.201 | Driver with alcohol 0.04 or higher performing safety-sensitive functions | Single occurrence fails the audit | § 385.321(b) |
| § 382.211 | Driver who refused a test performing safety-sensitive functions | Single occurrence fails the audit | § 385.321(b) |
| § 382.215 | Driver with a verified positive performing safety-sensitive functions | Single occurrence fails the audit | § 385.321(b) |
| § 382.305 | No random testing program | Single occurrence fails the audit | § 385.321(b) |
What the investigator asks for, in the order the folder should be built: the written policy with every driver's signed receipt (§ 382.601); a negative pre-employment result from the MRO or C/TPA for every driver before the first safety-sensitive function (§ 382.301(a)); the consortium agreement and the record of random selections and tests for the year (§ 382.401(c)(6), § 382.305); Query History and the limited-consent forms (§ 382.701(e), § 382.703(a)); supervisor training certificates, 60 minutes on alcohol plus 60 on controlled substances, with no recurrent training required (§ 382.603); the MIS summary if one was requested (§ 382.403); and all of it at the principal place of business within two business days (§ 382.401(d)). The full document list for an audit beyond Part 382 is in the DOT audit document checklist.
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The FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is a federal database, created by 49 CFR Part 382 subpart G, that holds every CDL driver's DOT drug and alcohol violations: verified positive, adulterated or substituted tests, alcohol confirmation tests of 0.04 or higher, refusals to test, employer reports of actual knowledge, and the return-to-duty steps that follow (§ 382.703(b)). Employers query it before hiring and at least once a year; MROs, employers and SAPs report into it; state licensing agencies check it before issuing or renewing a CDL. A registration is valid for 5 years and is cancelled after 2 years without a query or report (§ 382.713). The help line is (800) 832-5660.
Yes, for every employer of drivers who hold a CDL or CLP and are subject to Part 382 testing. § 382.701 requires a full pre-employment query before any safety-sensitive function and a query on every driver at least once a year. An owner-operator is both employer and driver and must meet both sets of duties, including designating a C/TPA (§ 382.705(b)(6)). Employers of non-CDL drivers are not required to query and continue to use the previous-employer check under § 391.23(e). Drivers are not required to register by rule, but they cannot give the electronic consent a full query needs without registering, so in practice a driver who wants to be hired registers.
Yes, if you drive for your own company under your own USDOT number. § 382.705(b)(6) says an employer who employs himself as a driver must designate a C/TPA to handle the reporting of his own drug and alcohol violations, and § 382.705(c) moves the responsibility for that reporting to the designated C/TPA. The designation is a click inside your employer account, not the consortium contract: FMCSA's owner-operator reminder states that being placed in a random pool under § 382.305(j)(2) does not meet the requirement for designating a C/TPA in the Clearinghouse. A leased owner-operator under another carrier's USDOT is that carrier's driver, and the carrier carries the employer duties. Without a designation the C/TPA cannot query or report for you (§ 382.715(a)).
There is none for a freight broker that employs no CDL drivers. The Clearinghouse FAQ limits the query duty to employers whose drivers fall under Parts 382 and 383. A broker cannot query a carrier's drivers either: consent is given driver by driver to the employer requesting it, and § 382.723(b) limits an employer's use of Clearinghouse information to deciding whether a prohibition applies to a driver it employs or intends to hire, so there is no lawful path for a broker to check someone else's driver. If a brokerage also holds carrier authority and puts drivers in trucks, it is an employer for those drivers and every employer duty on this page applies.
Under § 382.703(c) an employer may not let a driver who refuses to give consent to a full query perform any safety-sensitive function. The refusal is not reported to the Clearinghouse and is not a violation on the driver's record; it only closes the door at your company. FMCSA has stated in its notice on query requirements that refusing consent to one employer does not affect the driver's eligibility with other employers. For a pre-employment query that means no hire; for the full query that must follow a limited query flag, it means the driver stays off the truck once the 24 hours of § 382.701(b)(3) have passed. Keep the consent request and the date it was declined in the driver's file, because the Query History will show a query that was never completed.
Separate the two prices. The FMCSA fee is the same for everyone: $1.25 per query, limited or full, bought as a plan from the employer's own account, and a limited query that becomes a full one is charged once (Clearinghouse query plan page). No service can sell you a cheaper federal query, and a C/TPA cannot buy the plan for you. What varies is the administration fee a C/TPA charges to send consent requests, run the queries, track the 365-day clock and keep the consent forms. Compare that fee, and check that the service is actually designated in your account. At TruckerNavi that work is inside the $150-per-year consortium fee.
A limited query returns only whether information exists about the driver and releases nothing (§ 382.701(b)(2)); it runs on a written general consent held outside the system that can cover more than one year. A full query releases the record listed in § 382.703(b): violations, actual-knowledge reports, the SAP report, the negative RTD test and follow-up completion; it needs the driver's electronic consent inside the Clearinghouse before each query. Pre-employment queries are always full. Both cost $1.25, and a limited query followed by a full one within 24 hours is charged as a single query.
Until all four conditions in § 382.719(a) are met: the SAP has reported that the driver completed the evaluation and treatment process, a negative return-to-duty test is recorded, the follow-up testing plan is completed, and five years have passed since the violation determination. Whichever comes last controls, so a driver who never starts the return-to-duty process stays prohibited indefinitely, and a driver who finishes it in year one still shows the record to employers for the full five years. Only administrative errors, and employer reports of actual knowledge or of a refusal filed in violation of § 382.705(b)(3) or (b)(5), can be removed by petition under § 382.717; test results cannot.
It means the driver has an unresolved subpart B violation and may not perform any safety-sensitive function, including driving a CMV, and no employer may allow it (§ 382.501). Since November 18, 2024 it also means the state must downgrade the CDL within 60 days of receiving FMCSA's notice (§ 383.73(q)), and no state will issue, renew, transfer or upgrade a CDL while the status stands. The only exit is the Part 40 subpart O process: SAP evaluation, treatment or education, a negative return-to-duty test, then at least six unannounced follow-up tests in the first 12 months (§ 40.307).
§ 382.401 sets four periods. Five years: alcohol results of 0.02 or higher, verified positives, refusals, SAP evaluations, EBT calibration, program administration records and MIS summaries. Two years: collection-process records. One year: negative and cancelled results, MRO reversals, alcohol below 0.02. Training records for BATs, STTs, supervisors and drivers: while the person performs the function plus two years. Clearinghouse query records go 3 years (§ 382.701(e)), limited-consent forms 3 years (§ 382.703(a)). All of it must be available at the principal place of business within two business days of an FMCSA request (§ 382.401(d)).
Yes. Under Part 382 an owner-operator is both the employer and the driver, and the Clearinghouse FAQ states that owner-operators must comply with all Clearinghouse requirements imposed on both employers and employees. That includes the query at least once per year under § 382.701(b). Your designated C/TPA may run it on your behalf, but the Query History on your employer account is what an auditor opens, and an empty one is a violation.
Send the driver a consent request and run a full query within 24 hours of the limited query, as § 382.701(b)(3) requires. If the 24 hours pass without a full query, the driver may not perform any safety-sensitive function until you run it and it shows no prohibitions. If the full query shows a prohibited status, remove the driver immediately under § 382.501. You are not charged a second time: a limited query that turns into a full one is billed as one query.
$1.25 per query, limited or full, at the flat rate on the Clearinghouse query plan page, and queries never expire. Only the registered employer can buy the plan; a C/TPA cannot purchase queries on an employer's behalf. Registration and everything else in the Clearinghouse is free, and under § 382.721 a driver can never be charged to see his own record. Large fleets can buy an unlimited annual plan, priced on the Clearinghouse site.
Yes, once you have designated that C/TPA in your Clearinghouse employer account; without a designation a C/TPA may not act for you (§ 382.715(a)). The query plan is still bought from your own account, because C/TPAs cannot purchase queries for employers. Responsibility for the queries and for reporting stays with you under § 382.705(c), with one exception: an owner-operator's own violations, which the designated C/TPA must report and answers for.
Nothing about the departure itself; a termination is not reportable. What you report, by the close of the third business day, are violations: an alcohol confirmation test of 0.04 or higher, a refusal to test, a negative return-to-duty test, completion of follow-up testing, and actual knowledge of prohibited use with the evidence (§ 382.705(b)). Negative tests other than the return-to-duty test, alcohol results between 0.02 and 0.039, and results of non-DOT tests are never entered.
Until all four conditions in § 382.719 are met: the SAP's report that the driver completed the evaluation and treatment process, a negative return-to-duty test, completion of the follow-up testing plan, and five years since the date of the violation determination. A record that was entered in error can be corrected by petition under § 382.717; FMCSA decides within 45 days, or 14 days in expedited cases, and only administrative errors are removed, plus employer reports of actual knowledge or of a refusal that were filed in violation of § 382.705(b)(3) or (b)(5); test results are not.
The driver may not perform any safety-sensitive function, including driving a commercial motor vehicle, and the employer must remove him from that work (§ 382.501). Since November 18, 2024 the state also downgrades the CDL under § 383.73(q). The way back is the Part 40 subpart O process: SAP evaluation, education or treatment, a negative return-to-duty test, and a follow-up plan with at least six unannounced tests in the first 12 months (§ 40.307).
After FMCSA notifies the state that a driver is prohibited, the state must complete the downgrade and record it on the CDLIS driver record within 60 days of receiving that notice (§ 383.73(q)). To get it back, finish the return-to-duty process so the Clearinghouse status changes to not prohibited; FMCSA then notifies the state, which must make the driver eligible for reinstatement. If the status was recorded in error, the state must reinstate as expeditiously as possible and expunge the downgrade from the driving record.
No. Part 40 recognizes urine and oral fluid specimens for DOT testing, and the definitions in § 382.107 refer only to urine and oral fluid specimens. A hair test is a non-DOT procedure. Under § 40.13(f) no one may change or disregard the results of a DOT test based on the results of a non-DOT test, so a clean hair test does not cancel a verified positive, and a positive hair test does not go into the Clearinghouse.
The written policy with each driver's signed receipt (§ 382.601), a negative pre-employment result for every driver before the first safety-sensitive function (§ 382.301), the consortium agreement and records of random selections (§ 382.401(c)(6), § 382.305), Query History and limited-consent forms (§ 382.701(e), § 382.703), supervisor training records (§ 382.603), and the records kept for the periods in § 382.401, all at the principal place of business within two business days. For a new entrant, no program or no random program is an automatic audit failure under § 385.321(b).