Regulatory Petition May Change Off-Duty Drug Testing
The interesting thing about sweeping regulations is that there are bound to be edge cases that fall through the cracks. Such is the case of one Nathan Weidert, who has submitted a petition to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to prohibit random drug tests from happening while a driver is off-duty.
Details
The concept of off-duty drug testing makes sense for 99% of cases: a driver who engages in “less than favorable activities” will still have the evidence of it in his or her system for numerous days afterwards, potentially impeding the ability to drive.
That is where Nathan Weidert’s edge case comes in. Working as a seasonal employee, Weidert was near the very end of his contract, with no more miles left to be driven, when he was given a random testing requirement. Considering the concept to be absurd on its face, Weidert refused, which under the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse rules is tantamount to failing the drug test, so unless the rule is changed Weidert will have to perform return-to-duty processes before his next seasonal contract.
“Under current regulations, the CDL holder must immediately proceed to a collection site when
an employer notifies the driver that they’ve been selected for a random drug test even if the
individual is at home, on vacation, in rural Alaska, fishing on a boat in the middle of a pristine
mountain lake, or across the globe,” Weidert says in his petition. “If a driver does not immediately proceed to a collection site, they are subject to an automatic refusal which threatens their livelihood.”
Conclusion
Petitions to amend federal regulations from U.S. citizens are rare, and even rarer do they become reality, but this edge case caught our attention because of its potential on the trucking industry should it become official. As it currently stands, the process of getting drug tested counts as on-duty work in itself, so a trucker on the road taking time to get tested might run into regulatory complications if they are already spending close to their limit each day traveling to get a delivery done on time.
What do you think about the requirement to accept drug testing off the clock, even if on an extended vacation wherein any toxins would completely clear the system? Let us know in the comments.
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