The Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse is FMCSA's national database of CDL drivers' drug and alcohol program violations. Since it went live, checking it is not optional: every Clearinghouse query an employer of CDL drivers owes is set by rule, and owner-operators carry those employer duties for themselves.
What the Clearinghouse is
It is a federal database recording violations like positive tests and refusals, along with return-to-duty status. Its purpose is to stop a driver with an unresolved violation from quietly moving to a new carrier. Employers check it; medical review officers and substance abuse professionals report into it.
What employers must do
- Register in the Clearinghouse as an employer.
- Run a full pre-employment query before a newly hired CDL driver performs safety-sensitive functions, a full query requires the driver's electronic consent.
- Run at least one query per year on every CDL driver you employ (the annual query can be the limited type, escalating to a full query if it shows information).
- Report violations you are required to report, and keep records of consents and queries.
The owner-operator rule people miss
An owner-operator is both employer and driver, and FMCSA requires employers who employ themselves to designate a consortium/third-party administrator (C/TPA) in the Clearinghouse. Your C/TPA handles certain reporting duties an owner-operator cannot perform on their own behalf. If you have authority and drive your own truck with no staff, this applies to you. Registering that way, step by step, is in Clearinghouse registration for owner-operators.
What the query results mean
A limited query answers one question: does the driver's Clearinghouse record hold any information about a resolved or unresolved drug and alcohol program violation? It does not show what the information is, and it needs only a general consent the driver signs outside the Clearinghouse.
If a limited query shows that information exists, 49 CFR 382.701(b)(3) requires a full query within 24 hours. The full query releases the details, and it needs the driver's electronic consent given inside the Clearinghouse. That is also the query pre-employment requires, which is why a new driver has to register as a driver before the query can run.
A query that returns nothing is a result too: keep it. The regulation requires records of each query and the information received, and if information about the driver is entered in the 30 days after you query, FMCSA notifies you (382.701(c)).
How violations clear
A violation follows the driver until the return-to-duty process is completed and recorded, records generally remain visible for five years or until the follow-up program is done, whichever is later. For hiring, what matters is simple: a full query tells you whether the driver is currently prohibited.
Keeping it on schedule
Clearinghouse compliance fails on calendars, not concepts: the annual query is easy to run and easier to forget. Put every driver's query anniversary on a tracked calendar, or have Clearinghouse compliance for small carriers run the schedule and file the consent records for you.