In this Newsletter
- Oral Fluid Testing Part 2
- Why Do We Need a Non-DOT Policy?
- Drug & Alcohol History Checks
Oral Fluid Testing Part 2
Urine or Oral Fluid – Who Decides?
Urine drug testing is not going away in the DOT drug testing program once there are oral fluid devices approve for DOT use. Only the employer can authorize the use of either urine or oral fluid or switch to the other when there might be a problem collection such as:
- A temperature that’s out of range.
- A shy bladder with up to a three-hour wait time.
- A specimen that appears to have been tampered with.
- Dry mouth.
Applicants and employees cannot choose for themselves between urine and oral fluid testing. Collectors cannot make the decision to perform urine or oral fluid testing. The regulations stipulate that the choice is always an employer’s decision, however oral fluid testing will be required for directly observed collections for transgender and nonbinary individuals.
Employers should have standing orders so that the collectors know what specimen they need to collect for regular collections and direct observation, shy bladder, and dry mouth collections. The standing orders should include information on when to switch from urine to oral fluid or oral fluid to urine.
Now is the time to start making decisions about how you will incorporate Oral Fluid testing into your DOT drug testing program.
You should be aware that some information you’ll need may not be available yet, such as cost information, for comparison. Costs can’t be established by device manufacturers, labs, clinics, or TPAs until the devices and labs are approved.
Why Do We Need a Non-DOT Policy?
As a reminder…
Employers must have an up-to-date company NON-DOT drug and alcohol testing policy for employees and situations not covered under Federal (DOT) testing regulation. This includes but is not limited to, office personnel, post-accident testing when an accident does not meet DOT definitions, or work that is not covered under DOT authority (FMCSA, PHMSA, FAA, FTA or USCG). In addition to an up-to-date NON-DOT policy, you are subject to the state law and need addendums for each state in which the work is occurring. This is particularly important with marijuana testing regulation, restrictions on point of care collection testing (if your company wishes to do instant testing), restrictions on random testing, etc. There are many nuances to NON-DOT testing, especially for multi-state employers and we encourage our clients to take the necessary steps to get their NON-DOT policies updated, then reviewed and approved by their legal counsel. Current and up-to-date policies are necessary to protect against litigation and other legal issues that could arise related to drug and alcohol testing. The importance of this cannot be overemphasized. DON’T WAIT!
UPCOMING WEBINAR
HASE is sponsoring a webinar on November 21, 2024, at 11:00am CST. The webinar is hosted by Bill Judge and Nick Hartman of Drug Screening Compliance Institute. They will cover the general importance of updated company policies and then go into more detail about state specific drug testing, particularly marijuana testing laws in a few of the more complicated states, for example: New Jersey, New York and Minnesota. Please mark your calendars, the link will be sent out soon.
Drug Screening Compliance Institute
Drug & Alcohol History Check Process Reminders
Both a verified negative DOT urine drug test report and a properly initiated DOT Drug & Alcohol History Check are required before a new hire or rehire is eligible to perform PHMSA, FRA or FAA covered functions for any DOT regulated employer.
If CHASE provides this service for you, in order for the history check to be completed within 30 days, you must submit the forms to CHASE within 3 days of any PE or RTD drug test. There must be a signed authorization form for each previous DOT regulated employer within the last 2 to 3 years. As a courtesy to help keep you in compliance, CHASE periodically sends deficit lists out to our clients for those employees who are missing the forms however, you should not wait for these lists to send the required documents.
There are still a few instances where your FMCSA employees are required to complete the drug and alcohol history check forms in addition to the FMCSA Clearinghouse query.
- if your FMCSA employee also performs covered functions under another DOT agency, such as a CDL driver who operates equipment on a pipeline job site.
- to obtain information from previous employers for new hires/rehires who have violations reported in the Clearinghouse or if an employee self-discloses a previous violation to you.
- to obtain drug and alcohol testing information if a CDL driver was previously in a position covered by other DOT agencies such as PHMSA, FRA, etc
Help us keep you in compliance by submitting history checks on each new hire/rehire within 3 days of the pre-employment drug test.
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