Pre-Employment Clearinghouse Query Changes for 2023

Posted: November 29, 2022

Changes are coming soon regarding how employers comply with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.

Currently, employers of CDL and CLP drivers are required to manually and electronically conduct background investigations before hiring a driver to determine if they have violated drug and alcohol regulations of any Department of Transportation (DOT) mode within the past three years (per 49 CFR 391.23(e)). To meet this requirement, employers, or their designated consortia/third-party administrators must conduct electronic queries in the clearinghouse and manual inquiries with previous employers.

Starting January 6, 2023, employers are no longer required to also request manual investigative work for pre-employment from the CDL and CLP drivers’ previous employers. There are now three years of drug and alcohol program violation data stored in the clearinghouse. A full query will satisfy the requirement to investigate a prospective driver’s previous drug and alcohol program violations, as established by 49 CFR 391.23(e). In accordance with § 382.413(b) and 391.23(e)(4), prospective employers must conduct a pre-employment full query of the clearinghouse, as outlined in § 382.701(a), to comply with the inquiry requirement in § 391.23(e) as it pertains to FMCSA-regulated employers.

If you have any questions about these upcoming changes, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Client Service Ninjas at (877) 360-4636.