New Rules May Force Additional
Collection Fees When Observed

I must admit, between the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports, the DOT FMCSA 49 CFR’s new rulings and the retraction of the implementation date to November 1, 2008 for the direct observed, I haven’t been short of topics to write about for the past 5 months!

As I have continued to reiterate, it is going to be interesting to see how the new ruling regarding observed collections is going to play out. Well…. it seems with each new trend or regulation there are always those that have to find another way to make sure they get more then their share of the piece of pie from others misfortunate.

Under the August 25th final ruling, which since has been postponed with an effective date of November 1st, all DOT follow-up and return-to-duty drug collections must be directly observed. One of our clients, an owner-operator recently went to an authorized collection site for a DOT follow-up collection which was collected under a direct observation. AADT received an invoice from the collection site for the follow-up collection which was billed at our regular fee, but they also applied an additional $50 fee for the direct observation collection.

We proceeded to contact the collection site supervisor and explained first of all, that the DOT ruling for the mandatory same gender observed collection on a follow-up and return-to-duty had been postponed until November 1st, so they should not have performed an observed collection.

Secondly, there was no agreement between AADT and the collection site to pay an additional fee for direct observed. If they are intending to charge an additional fee for an observed collection they need to give us an advanced notice in writing so we can notify our clients. AADT is only responsible for payment of standard DOT, non-DOT and DOT look-alike procedures for urine drug collections and breathe alcohol testing. Arrangements of fees for services outside of the standard collections (i.e. observed collections, onsite collections, after hour’s collections etc.) would need to be made directly with the donor or employer prior to performing the service.

What I find to be frustrating, is the fact that direct observed collections have always been a requirement within the DOT regulations, so if a collection site has been authorized all along to conduct DOT collections the provisions (and training) for observed collections should have always been in play, so why is it now that there needs to be an additional fee, especially at such a inflated and ambiguous price?

§ 40.67 When and how is a directly observed collection conducted?
As an employer, you must direct an immediate collection under direct observation with no advance notice to the employee, if:

• The laboratory reported to the MRO that a specimen is invalid, and the MRO reported to you that there was not an adequate medical explanation for the result
  
• The MRO reported to you that the original positive, adulterated, or substituted result had to be cancelled because the test of the split specimen could not be performed
  
• The laboratory reported to the MRO that the specimen was negative-dilute with a creatinine concentration greater than or equal to 2 mg/dL but less than or equal to 5 mg/dL, and the MRO reported the specimen to you as negative-dilute and that a second collection must take place under direct observation (see §40.197(b)(1)).
  
• As an employer, you may direct a collection under direct observation of an employee if the drug test is a return-to-duty test or a follow-up test.

As a collector, you must immediately conduct a collection under direct observation if:

• You are directed by the DER
  
• You observed materials brought to the collection site or the employee’s conduct clearly indicates an attempt to tamper with a specimen (see §§40.61(f)(5)(i) and 40.63(e))
  
• The temperature on the original specimen was out of range (see §40.65(b)(5))
  
• The original specimen appeared to have been tampered with (see §40.65(c)(1))

2009 Renewals Packets Have Been Mailed!

I would like to remind everyone that the renewal packets for 2009 must be complete, including signatures on all forms. For companies with employee drivers and covered other employees with CDL’s (such as mechanics that test drive CMV’s over 26,000 lbs.) it MUST be signed by the owner or the authorized designated employee representative (DER) and for owner-operators the forms MUST be signed by the owner-operator only; not the wife, daughter, girlfriend, mother, bookkeeper or others. We have had to call clients, re-mail or return thousands of renewal packets or Consortium Service Agreements each year due to incomplete paperwork.

This year, we had some significant changes to our Consortium Service Agreement especially due to the new DOT final rulings regarding observed collections. So be sure to read the Agreement thoroughly so you fully understand your obligations and the consequences if you do not adhere to the terms in the Agreement.

Each year we are inundated with phone calls from clients that are in a panic to get their certificate of enrollment for the new year so their broker will work them or pay them. Because of the challenges of processing and mailing the thousands of renewals during this time and the many that we receive back, it is important that you get your signed Agreements and Company Profile changes back to us before December 15th to ensure you will have your 2009 enrollment packet before January 1st.

Many of our client’s that are subject to the DOT FMCSA regulations do not seem to understand that once you or your company is out of a drug and alcohol program even one day they are already in violation. Once it has reached the 30th day you are required to pre-employment all persons in your program and if you do not it is a separate violation. So we can not emphasis enough the importance of renewing on time so there is no lapse in your program.

CHP has been hiring many new BIT inspectors as part of the increase in BIT fees; CHP management indicated that they are aggressively inspecting all schedule inspections. Plus, with the drop in the number of trucking businesses across the state (at least within construction) there will be fewer trucks to inspect leaving more time to get to everyone in a timely manner.

If you have not received your 2009 renewal packet by October 25th or if you have any questions, please contact us. We sincerely appreciate those clients that promptly get their completed packets back to us.

Drug Dealers Have No Regard For Life; Human Or Animal

My son Jacob, who is an equine veterinarian, recently shared an interesting story with me. The Equine Animal Hospital where he practices received a call from a client that happened to be a border patrolman “la migra” at the San Diego/Mexico border.
The patrolman asked him and the senior vet there – If you wanted to smuggle drugs into the U.S. from Mexico in a horse, how would you do it? After the senior veterinarian explained a couple of methods, he asked the patrolmen why he was asking. The patrolmen said they had stopped a trailer full of horses coming across the border. They had the driver pull the trailer around for inspection. During the inspection one of the horses became uncontrollable, to the point that the officers had to eventually shoot it. Afterwards the horse was autopsied and they found 9 kilos (20 lbs.) of cocaine in its stomach. Although the packages were wrapped thoroughly, one of them had broken open. The veterinarian speculated the ruptured package was caused by being kicked by another horse.

Ironically, two weeks prior at AADT, I had commented that we were seeing an unusual increase in the cocaine positive test results. We have seen from past years of testing that there are certain years when cocaine is higher than others. For instance, from 2003-2008 it was at it’s highest in 2006 and the lowest in 2007. Yet in just the first half of this year, cocaine positivity is already higher than all of 2007.

Hopefully, now that this drug smuggling scheme has been identified we may see a decline in cocaine usage, which of course, is until the smugglers find a new ruthless plot to get their drugs across the border.

Sincerely,

Lonnie Johnson
Operation Director