November 18th – 178,000 CDLs Scheduled For Downgrades
Starting Monday, November 18, over 178,000 truck drivers and other CDL holders who are in “prohibited” status in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse will have their licenses downgraded, meaning they will lose their commercial driving privileges.
This change is part of the second phase of FMCSA’s Clearinghouse, which first started in 2020. Until now, drivers who failed a drug or alcohol test were listed as “prohibited,” but it was up to employers or law enforcement to check the Clearinghouse and take them off the road. Drivers could get out of “prohibited” status by completing the return-to-duty (RTD) process.
With the new rule, state driver licensing agencies (SDLAs) must remove commercial driving privileges for drivers in “prohibited” status, resulting in a downgrade of their CDL until they complete the RTD process. Some states have already started doing this ahead of the November 18 deadline.
This update is important for trucking companies, especially those that haven’t been following the Clearinghouse rules. Now, even if a company doesn’t check the Clearinghouse, they will notice when a driver’s CDL is downgraded for drug or alcohol violations. This new rule makes it harder for drivers to continue driving if they are in prohibited status without their employers knowing.
Independent owner-operators who are not in a fleet’s drug and alcohol program are also affected. They are required to be part of a drug-testing group, which will report any failed drug tests to the Clearinghouse, putting those drivers in prohibited status.
Since Clearinghouse started in 2020, only about a third of drivers who ended up in prohibited status have completed the RTD process to return to work. Trucking expert Brandon Wiseman thinks that while the CDL downgrade may push some drivers to follow the rules, others may leave the industry or work for companies that don’t follow Clearinghouse requirements.
For carriers already using the Clearinghouse and following the rules, Wiseman advises they continue with annual queries as required. The system also automatically notifies carriers if there’s a change in a driver’s status for 12 months after the last query.
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