{"id":50915,"date":"2019-08-09T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/?p=50915"},"modified":"2022-11-29T16:41:03","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T21:41:03","slug":"dot-refusals-to-test-just-got-more-difficult-for-employers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/blogs\/dot-refusals-to-test-just-got-more-difficult-for-employers\/","title":{"rendered":"DOT Refusals to Test Just Got More Difficult for Employers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>There is often confusion when an applicant or employee refuses a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/dot-drug-test\/\"><strong>DOT required drug<\/strong><\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/etg-alcohol-test\/\"><strong>alcohol test<\/strong><\/a>.&nbsp; Some refusals are determined by the medical review officer (MRO) and some by the employer.&nbsp; Typically, if a specimen is not collected and sent to the lab for testing, the employer is responsible for the official determination of the refusal to test.&nbsp; This does not always happen.&nbsp; For alcohol testing the employer is always responsible to make the determination of a refusal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DOT provides a handbook for employees entitled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transportation.gov\/sites\/dot.gov\/files\/docs\/resources\/partners\/drug-and-alcohol-testing\/2568\/employeehandbookeng2019a.pdf\">What Employees Need To Know About DOT Drug &amp; Alcohol Testing<\/a>,&nbsp; Page 11 defines the refusals for drug testing and for alcohol testing, DOT regulated employees should be given this handbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DOT also provides a handbook for employers entitled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transportation.gov\/sites\/dot.gov\/files\/docs\/ODAPC_Employer_Guidelines_%20June_1_2015_A.pdf\">What Employers Need to Know About DOT Drug and Alcohol Testing<\/a>.&nbsp; Page 25 provides a chart providing employers with information on what exactly is a refusal to test and who determines it.&nbsp; The following refusals are determined by an employer specifically the designated employer representative (DER):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Fail to appear at a urine collection site when directed to report<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fail to remain at the urine collection site<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fail to provide a urine specimen<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fail to permit a monitored or observed urine collection<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fail or decline to take an additional drug test the employer or collector has directed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fail to cooperate with any part of the urine collection process<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For an observed collection, fail to follow the instructions to raise and lower clothing and turn around<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Possess or wear a prosthetic or other devices that could be used to interfere with the collection process<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Admit to the collector to having adulterated or substituted the specimen<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fail to appear for an alcohol test when directed to report<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fail to remain at the alcohol test site<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fail to provide an adequate amount of saliva or breath<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fail to undergo a medical examination or evaluation as the employer has directed as part of the insufficient breath procedures<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What\u2019s New and Different and More Difficult?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/dot-drug-test\/\"><strong>FMCSA regulated employers<\/strong><\/a> there are now additional employer requirements once the new Clearinghouse rule goes into effect on January 6, 2020.&nbsp; Refusals to test must be reported to the Clearinghouse; the employer must report the refusals listed above.&nbsp; Documentation of these refusals will also be required to be reported to the Clearinghouse. &nbsp;DER\u2019s will be required to report refusals to test by the close of the third business day following the date on which they obtained that information.&nbsp; Now here is the difficult part, for each refusal to test reported, the following additional information must be reported:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Documentation, including, but not limited to, electronic mail or other contemporaneous records of the time and date the driver was notified to appear at a testing site; and the time, date and testing site location at which the employee was directed to appear, or an affidavit providing evidence of such notification;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Documentation, including, but not limited to, electronic mail or other correspondence, or an affidavit, indicating the date the employee was terminated or resigned (if applicable);<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Documentation, including, but not limited to, electronic mail or other correspondence, or an affidavit, showing that the C\/TPA reporting the violation was designated as a service agent for an employer who employs himself\/herself as a driver (Owner Operator) at the time the reported refusal occurred (if applicable); and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Documentation, including a certificate of service or other evidence, showing that the employer provided the employee with all documentation reported regarding the refusal;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the case of a refusal based on the donors (applicant or donor) admission of adulteration or substitution of the specimen; the employer may report only those admissions made to the specimen collector<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Employer\u2019s must be diligent about refusals.&nbsp; Proper documentation will be necessary and critical to compliance.&nbsp; Collector notes and affidavits will be necessary to document what happened at the collection site that caused the employer to make the refusal determination.&nbsp; Employers will need more detailed interaction with collection site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/clearinghouseservices.com\/employer-memberships\/\">FMCSA Clearinghouse Services, Inc<\/a> is available to help employers with all aspects of the Commercial Driver\u2019s License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is often confusion when an applicant or employee refuses a DOT required drug or alcohol test.&nbsp; Some refusals are determined by the medical review officer (MRO) and some by the employer.&nbsp; Typically, if a specimen is not collected and sent to the lab for testing, the employer is responsible for the official determination of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"51052,51229,51160,50938,51031,50935","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80,130,47],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50915"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldrugscreening.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}