In 2024, a trash collection company asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for an exemption from some of the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse requirements.
Waste Management Holdings asked FMCSA for an exemption from certain driver qualification requirements and Clearinghouse regulations when its drivers are transferred among two or more Waste Management Holdings carriers with different USDOT numbers.
Specifically, the company aimed to remove the administrative burden of requalifying drivers every time they are reassigned to one of its motor carrier affiliates.
Waste Management Holdings said that the requirements created “undue administrative burdens and inefficiencies.”
“WM seeks an exemption that would allow it to centrally qualify all drivers hired to drive for any WM motor carrier entity and avoid having to requalify them if and when they are transferred internally to another related WM carrier,” the company wrote in its 2024 exemption request.
In a notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, May 13, FMCSA granted and denied aspects of Waste Management Holdings’ exemption request.
FMCSA denied the company’s request for broad exemptions from the pre-employment controlled substance testing and Clearinghouse requirements, saying that the rule serves several essential safety functions, including deterring substance misuse, identifying impaired drivers before they operate a commercial motor vehicle, removing unsafe drivers from service and ensuring that drivers who test positive are subject to appropriate evaluation and treatment.
However, the agency also granted several parts of Waste Management Holdings’ request.
“FMCSA grants WM’s request for limited relief from certain driver qualification requirements to allow WM to use the exception for a “single-employer driver” when it transfers drivers among affiliates,” the agency wrote. “FMCSA also grants a limited exemption from the requirement for the driver to undergo controlled substances testing when being transferred among affiliates if the driver has participated in a WM random controlled substances testing pool for any WM-affiliated employer for the previous 12 months. Finally, FMCSA grants an exemption to allow WM to conduct a limited, rather than full, Clearinghouse query when transferring drivers among affiliates.”
The exemption is limited to two years. LL
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