(a) Pre-employment query required.

(1) Employers must not employ a driver subject to controlled substances and alcohol testing under this part to perform a safety-sensitive function without first conducting a pre-employment query of the Clearinghouse to obtain information about whether the driver has a verified positive, adulterated, or substituted controlled substances test result; has an alcohol confirmation test with a concentration of 0.04 or higher; has refused to submit to a test in violation of §382.211; or that an employer has reported actual knowledge, as defined at §382.107, that the driver used alcohol on duty in violation of §382.205, used alcohol before duty in violation of §382.207, used alcohol following an accident in violation of §382.209, or used a controlled substance, in violation of §382.213.

(2) The employer must conduct a full query under this section, which releases information in the Clearinghouse to an employer and requires that the individual driver give specific consent.

(b) Annual query required.

(1) Employers must conduct a query of the Clearinghouse at least once per year for information for all employees subject to controlled substance and alcohol testing under this part to determine whether information exists in the Clearinghouse about those employees.

(2) In lieu of a full query, as described in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, an employer may obtain the individual driver's consent to conduct a limited query to satisfy the annual query requirement in paragraph (b)(1) of this section. The limited query will tell the employer whether there is information about the individual driver in the Clearinghouse, but will not release that information to the employer. The individual driver may give consent to conduct limited queries that is effective for more than one year.

(3) If the limited query shows that information exists in the Clearinghouse about the individual driver, the employer must conduct a full query, in accordance with paragraph (a)(2) of this section, within 24 hours of conducting the limited query. If the employer fails to conduct a full query within 24 hours, the employer must not allow the driver to continue to perform any safety-sensitive function until the employer conducts the full query and the results confirm that the driver's Clearinghouse record contains no prohibitions as defined in paragraph (d) of this section.

(c) Employer notification. If any information described in paragraph (a) of this section is entered into the Clearinghouse about a driver during the 30-day period immediately following an employer conducting a query of that driver's records, FMCSA will notify the employer.

(d) Prohibition. No employer may allow a driver to perform any safety-sensitive function if the results of a Clearinghouse query demonstrate that the driver has a verified positive, adulterated, or substituted controlled substances test result; has an alcohol confirmation test with a concentration of 0.04 or higher; has refused to submit to a test in violation of §382.211; or that an employer has reported actual knowledge, as defined at §382.107, that the driver used alcohol on duty in violation of §382.205, used alcohol before duty in violation of §382.207, used alcohol following an accident in violation of §382.209, or used a controlled substance in violation of §382.213, except where a query of the Clearinghouse demonstrates:

(1) That the driver has successfully completed the SAP evaluation, referral, and education/treatment process set forth in part 40, subpart O, of this title; achieves a negative return-to-duty test result; and completes the follow-up testing plan prescribed by the SAP.

(2) That, if the driver has not completed all follow-up tests as prescribed by the SAP in accordance with §40.307 of this title and specified in the SAP report required by §40.311 of this title, the driver has completed the SAP evaluation, referral, and education/treatment process set forth in part 40, subpart O, of this title and achieves a negative return-to-duty test result, and the employer assumes the responsibility for managing the follow-up testing process associated with the testing violation.

(e) Recordkeeping required. Employers must retain for 3 years a record of each query and all information received in response to each query made under this section. As of January 6, 2023, an employer who maintains a valid registration fulfills this requirement.