FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse

The Clearinghouse is a secure online database that will give employers and government agencies real-time access to important information about CDL Driver drug and alcohol program violations, thereby enhancing safety on our Nation’s roadways.

Over 195,000 violations have been recorded in the DOT Clearinghouse to date – and over 80% of those drivers are still in prohibited status.

An employer may designate a consortium/third-party administrator (C/TPA) in the Clearinghouse to assist with meeting their query and violation reporting requirements. WFQA is registered in the Clearinghouse and will run full and limited DOT Clearinghouse queries on all CDL drivers, as required by the Department of Transportation. C/TPAs must accept an employer’s designation in the Clearinghouse before they can access the Clearinghouse on that employer’s behalf. Employers should contact the C/TPA prior to sending them a designation request in the Clearinghouse.

Driver Consent for FMCSA Clearinghouse Queries:

Pre‐Employment: The driver must provide specific consent to the Employer prior to each Full Query. This consent must be provided electronically within the Clearinghouse. Driver must be registered for a Full Query to be conducted.

As of January 6, 2023, prospective employers must conduct a pre-employment query of the Clearinghouse, as set forth in § 382.701(a), to comply with the inquiry requirement in §§ 382.413(b) and 391.23(e)(4), as it pertains to previous FMCSA-regulated employers. Inquiries not conducted under § 382.701(a) will not satisfy these inquiry requirements.

However, if a prospective employee was subject to drug and alcohol testing by a Department of Transportation (DOT) mode other than the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), (Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, etc.), prospective employers must continue to request drug and alcohol violation information from those DOT-regulated employers in accordance with § 391.23(e)(4)(ii), since violation information for other DOT modes is not reported to the Clearinghouse.

Limited Annual Query: A limited query allows an employer to determine if an individual driver’s Clearinghouse record has any information about resolved or unresolved drug and alcohol program violations, but does not release any specific violation information contained in the driver’s Clearinghouse record. Limited queries require only a general driver consent, which is obtained outside the Clearinghouse; this general consent is not required on an annual basis, it may be effective for more than one year. However, the limited consent request must specify the timeframe the driver is providing consent for.

Full Annual Query: A full query allows the employer to see detailed information about any drug and alcohol program violations in a driver’s Clearinghouse record. An employer must obtain the driver’s electronic consent in the Clearinghouse prior to the release of detailed violation information during the full query.

For More Information See video at: Clearinghouse Information

How WFQA Can Help:

• Report alcohol & drug violations on your behalf
• Run limited queries on all CDL drivers according to the regulation
• Run full queries as required due to the results found in the annual limited query
• Track the policy addendum receipt and maintain instructions to help the driver consent to required queries
• Pre-employment query on all potential new applicants, as requested