newsUpdates

January 2009

Questions & Answers

Question - Our company’s HR representative interviewed an individual for a DOT commercial driving position and sent them for a DOT pre-employment drug test. Once we received the Negative test result, we contacted the individual and told them they had the job. The individual decided that they did not want to take the job after all and is now requesting the results of the drug test to be sent to them. Since we paid for the testing, do we have to give them this information?

Answer - Yes, you cannot deny an individual the right to their test result and you cannot require them to pay for that test after the fact. In some cases, we have known of employers requesting the applicant to test at the applicant’s expense and providing they have a valid Negative result, they will reimburse them at the time of hire. Another reason we have seen this requirement from potential employers, is the individual may test positive for controlled substance, and in most cases the potential employer does not hire the positive driver and the company is out the expense of the test.

Broker Online Access

Facilitating the Check into the Active Status of a Contracted Independent Owner-Operator Motor Carrier

For the past year, we have been announcing our committed investment into an internet software enhancement for online services which will be helpful to industry brokers. This new program and process, we believe, is unique because it has been extensively reviewed by all parties – from the owner-operator to the broker and from the enforcement community, both federal and state, and our legal counsel. We believe this is an effectively useful tool for today and the future!

Once a broker and independent owner-operator has a signed “Agreement” on file with AADT, the broker would have the ability to log online and check the enrollment status of an independent owner-operator motor carrier operating under their own authority that is enrolled in AADT’s random CSAT program. In addition, if the broker has requested email notification they will be automatically notified should the independent owner operator go into inactive status. In an environment where an owner operator, like my husband Steve, can contract with 2-3 brokers in one day this is a reasonable compromise for maintaining the desired arms length between trucking company employer and legitimate independent contractor motor carrier.
Although this feature has been in the developing stages for over 18 months and after 4 computer software programmer changes and many frustrating days of working with a test program that works one day but not the next, we are finally at the point of offering the feature to an interested broker community. And if you combine this with our knowledge, services and commitment to our clients, there is no better value than AADT!

In hindsight, I believe it is called Murphy’s Law or one of those “knock on wood theories”, when you wishfully-believe and make an announcement about a deadline and of course something will inadvertently come up to prevent it from happening in the expected time. After over 10 years of working with IT programmers on developing custom programs like the one we have developed for CalDATA, C-DATA & AADT, we should have known better.

So for those times when humor is about the only thing to ease ones frustration, I have attached a joke – or is it? I think that any one that has spent any amount of time on computers can surely relate to this...

Computer Problem Report Form

1. Describe your problem: _________________________________

2. Now, describe the problem accurately: _________________________________

3. Speculate wildly about the cause of the problem: _________________________________

4. Problem Severity:
      A. Minor
      B. Minor
      C. Minor
      D. Trivial

5. Nature of the problem:
      A. Locked Up
      B. Frozen
      C. Hung
      D. Shot

6. Is your computer plugged in?
      Yes ____ No ____

7. Is it turned on?
      Yes ____ No ____

8. Have you tried to fix it yourself?
      Yes ____ No ____

9. Have you made it worse?
      Yes ____

10. Have you read the manual?
      Yes ____ No ____

11. Are you sure you’ve read the manual?
      Yes ____ No ____

12. Are you absolutely certain you’ve read the manual?
      No ____

13. Do you think you understood it?
      Yes ____ No ____

14. If `Yes’ then why can’t you fix the problem yourself? ____________________________

15. How tall are you? Are you above this line? ______________________________

16. What were you doing with your computer at the time the problem occurred? ______________________________

17. If “nothing” explain why you were logged in. ______________________________

18. Are you sure you aren’t imagining the problem?
      Yes ____ No ____

19. How does this problem make you feel? ______________________________

20. Tell me about your childhood. ______________________________

21. Do you have any independent witnesses of the problem?
      Yes ____ No ____

22. Can’t you do something else, instead of bothering me?
      Yes ____

Thank you for taking the time to fill out our Computer Problems Form. Please allow 1-week response time so that the problem will resolve itself or you can reboot your computer, most likely resolving the issue.
If not, expect a 3-4 hour charge!

Lonnie Johnson
Operation Director

 

Note that throughout this article, when I refer to the applicable federal regulations, I’m referring to CFR 49, Parts 40 & 382; these regulations can be found in Section 5 of the AADT Company Compliance Manual or in the AADT website at www.aadrugtesing.com under links at DOT Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance at www.dot.gov/ost/dapc or Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration at www.fmcsa.dot.gov.