newsUpdates
May 2009

Questions & Answers

Question - I’m the DER (Designated Employer Rep.) for a trucking company and we are enrolled with a drug consortium. We received a random notification for one of our DOT company drivers. When I instructed them to go test, the driver told me they had used drugs at home, so he was probably going to come up positive. I told him to go anyway, which he did, but when we received the test result it was negative. So what do we do now?

Answer - First, when you instructed the employee/driver to test and they admitted to using a controlled substance. At that time, it is considered the same as a “refusal to test or positive”. An employee/driver can voluntarily admit to using alcohol or controlled substance and not be subjected to the DOT return-to-duty requirements providing the driver does not self-identify in order to avoid testing. There are other restrictions that apply in order to exercise this exclusion; refer to §382.121.

Secondly, the employee should not have been instructed to “test anyway”. Again once the employee self-identified to using a controlled substance after they had been notified to test, it was basically a “done deal”, in order to return to a safety sensitive position they are required to go through the return-to-duty process. Lastly, there is specific cutoff concentrations associated with each one of the drugs or drug classes that the lab is testing for. If the specimen is not at the cutoff levels or above, even though there are traces of a drug metabolite the result will report as a negative. It is extremely important to note that anytime a person is suspected of being under the influence, they should not be permitted to drive.
They should be escorted either to the collection site or home depending on the circumstances. Due to legal liability and safety issues, should the unsupervised individual be involved in an incident or accident after you had knowledge or speculation of them being under the influence, there could be serious legal consequences to the employer, supervisor or company as well as serious safety consequences to the collection personnel, general public or employee/driver.

Nobody’s Happy When It’s
Time for Random Testing

We hear it all – “You test too much”, “You don’t test enough”, “You test the same employee over and over and other employees never get picked”, “I know people that have never been tested”, “I was picked four times in one year!” or “Just because I tested positive once now you pick on me all the time”. When it comes to random testing these are just a few of the complaints that we receive throughout each year.

The fact is, the random selections are randomly computer generated the same as a lottery system. Each employee/owner operator is placed into a specific random pool for selection based on their specific needs. At that time the computer issues the individual an automatic id number which has nothing to do with the person’s name, social security number, company affiliation, past testing history, etc. During random selection, the number of selections needed for each testing pool is put into the system and the computer starts randomly selecting from the auto ids. Once they are selected, they are matched up to the proper companies for notification purposes.

The testing selection process is based on the percentages required for that specific pool, for instance, the FMCSA DOT requirement is a minimum of 50% for drugs and 10% for alcohol. In order to remain random, each time an employee/owner operator is selected, they must remain in the testing pool selection for the next time a selection is made, they must have a equal chance of being selected the next time around.

Unfortunately, we do see some employees/owner-operators that seem to be picked more often then others and again this is just what can be considered as the “luck of the draw”. Our job is to make sure the selections are preformed in accordance to the regulations so that everyone enrolled is in compliance.

As explained in the AADT consortium service agreement, you must be accessible for notification. So, if you are going to be out (e.g. vacation, out of town, illness, leave of absence, currently not working) you should contact us so we can instruct you of your options. Also, we will have the documentation in your file should enforcement personnel question why you did not test or did not test in a timely manner.

If you have signed up for online access to your account you can view your company random history and see if you have an outstanding random. As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us, that is what we are here for!

Random Drug Testing for Those Seeking State Assistance - More States Should Follow Suit!

Kansas, like Texas, West Virginia and Florida, is looking to implement a random drug testing program for those people seeking assistance from the state. “This includes child care assistance and temporary assistance for families. It does not, however, include the Grandparents-as-caregivers program, which provides cash assistance to low-income grandparents who serve as primary caregivers to their young grandchildren.” Those recipients who do test positive will be given addiction treatment; however after three failed tests the recipient becomes ineligible for assistance.

Lonnie Johnson
AADT Operations Director
lonnie@aadrugtesting.com

 


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.