Random Drug and Alcohol Testing

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations specify that employees whose jobs require a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and who perform safety-sensitive functions are subject to random drug and alcohol testing.

Random drug testing:  Part 382 does not prohibit an employer from notifying a driver of his/her selection for a random test while the driver is in off-duty status.

Random alcohol testing:  A driver must be about to perform, or immediately available to perform, a safety-sensitive function to be considered subject to random alcohol testing. A CDL supervisor, mechanic, etc., who is on call to perform safety-sensitive functions may be tested at any time they are on call, ready to be dispatched while on-duty.
 

Procedures

  1. Each quarter, ISU’s third party administrator will provide the Office of Risk Management (ORM) a randomly-generated list of employees selected for testing.
  2. ORM will email a confidential test notification to the selected employee’s department HR contact or supervisor, specifying the type and reason for testing.
  3. The department contact or supervisor will call McFarland Clinic Occupational Medicine at 515-239-4496 to schedule the required test(s). Occupational Medicine will need the type of agency (“FMCSA”) and employee’s date of birth. The department contact or supervisor should note the employee’s appointment date and time and email the ISU Designated Employer Representative (DER), to provide the testing appointment date and time for each employee.
  4. The department contact or supervisor must hold these confidential documents until the day of the employee’s test. Employees must not be told in advance that testing will be conducted. On the testing date, the department contact or supervisor will notify the employee of their scheduled appointment and direct the employee to take the Notice of Appointment for Drug and/or Alcohol Screening letter and their driver’s license to the test site.
  5. Test results will be sent to the DER, and the DER will notify the department contact of results.

 

 

 

Contact

ISU Designated Employer Representative (DER)
cdl@iastate.edu
(515) 294-7711