If you are wondering if your personal doctor can also be your MRO, the short answer is "possibly, but probably not". The DOT regulations require MROs to be certified. Unless your doctor is a certified MRO, he or she may not act as a Medical Review Officer.
DOT regulations do not address who is responsible for paying for SAP services. The employers substance abuse policy may (should)( provide guidance for determining who pays. Many employers pass the costs associated with the Return-to-Duty process to the employee. And some employers choose to cover these costs.
Failure of a non-federal drug test is not the same as failing a federal drug test. It also does not constitute Actual Knowledge. But a positive non-DOT drug test does make the driver medically unqualified to perform safety sensitive duties. Under 49 CFR Part 391.41(b)(12), the driver is to be removed from driving duties and [...]
As part of the Return To Duty Process, the Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) requires provides Follow-Up testing plan which may last up to 5 years. At a minimum, there must be at least six tests within the first 12 months of the employee’s return to safety-sensitive functions. All DOT Follow Up tests are directly observed.
If you have a reasonable suspicion that a DOT-regulated safety-sensitive employee may be using drugs, you are to send him for a Reasonable Suspicion drug test. Your determination to test must be based on specific, contemporaneous, articulable observations concerning the appearance, behavior, speech or body odors of the employee. The supervisor making the Reasonable-Suspicion determination [...]
This one can be complicated. If the employee is not presently working and available to perform safety-sensitive functions, he should not go for testing at this time. Document the reason and select an alternate. If the individual is driving, or available to drive, did the prescribing physician know that he drives for a living? The [...]
If your wondering if you can tell the driver on Friday afternoon that he has to go for a Random drug test before work on Monday the short answer is: No. You are not to provide any advanced notification of a Random selection. The key to Random testing is that the tests are unannounced.
No. The employee who was randomly selected for random drug tests must be tested. You cannot get an alternate selection or send another employee simply because an individual has been selected multiple times. The DOT regulations require it and the integrity of your random drug testing program depends on it.
Why are some people randomly tested more than once?"Am I being singled out? I just did a random last month? Mike never gets tested. I don’t think this thing is random at all!”Those are not uncommon concerns among some safety-sensitive employees, and many employers have been challenged in court to demonstrate that their programs [...]
If you are planning to do a random drug and alcohol testing during a weekend safety meeting, here is what you should know: you can do a Drug test, yes. Alcohol test, no. Since drug use is prohibited at all times, you can conduct random drug tests at any time. But Random alcohol tests must [...]
