Evaluation Process

The return-to-duty process is set out in 49 CFR Part 40, Subpart O. A driver with a verified drug and alcohol program violation is prohibited from performing safety-sensitive functions until that process is complete. The steps must be completed in order.

The evaluation process works like this:

1. Evaluation

   You meet with one of our DFW SAP substance abuse professionals for an evaluation. The evaluation process generally takes approximately 2 hours or less to complete. Before we can record anything for you, you must have designated us as your SAP in the Clearinghouse and we must have accepted that request.

2. Determination

   The DFW SAP substance abuse professional determines if you need assistance with the alcohol misuse or illegal drug problem. The substance abuse professional is required to provide appropriate documentation to the DER who is your company’s designated employer representative to the DOT. We report the date this initial assessment was completed to the Clearinghouse by the close of the next business day.

3. Education or treatment referral

   The DFW SAP substance abuse professional will refer you to the appropriate education or treatment services based upon the needs identified in your evaluation. At a minimum, the substance abuse professional may recommend drug education. If necessary, you will receive a referral to two facilities that provide the drug classes or drug treatment you are required to complete.

4. Return to duty evaluation

   The DFW SAP substance abuse professional will conduct a follow-up evaluation to determine if you have complied with the recommendations for drug treatment or drug education that you were given when you were initially evaluated. If you have, we report the date you were determined eligible for return-to-duty testing — again by the close of the next business day.

5. Follow-up testing

   Last, the DFW SAP substance abuse professional will establish a follow-up testing regimen. The substance abuse professional may recommend drug and alcohol testing for those employees who have poly-substance abuse problems. You are required to complete at least six tests in the first year upon your return to safety sensitive duty on your job. Substance abuse professionals may recommend continuation of testing up to sixty months. Substance abuse professionals may also recommend a “continuing care” regimen (aftercare, meeting with a 12-Step sponsor, 12-Step meetings, etc).

After the evaluation

Being found eligible for return-to-duty testing is not the end of the process. Your current employer — or, if you are an owner-operator, your designated C/TPA — must send you for the return-to-duty test. You are no longer prohibited from performing safety-sensitive functions once that test comes back negative and your Clearinghouse status moves from Prohibited to Not Prohibited.

Any employer you work for during the prescribed period must then carry out the follow-up testing plan we set. The employer reports the negative return-to-duty test result and, in time, the date the follow-up testing plan was completed. We do not report either of those, and we do not upload the testing plan itself — it is not held in the Clearinghouse.

A violation record stays in the Clearinghouse for five years from the date of the violation determination, or until the follow-up testing plan is successfully completed, whichever is later.