Who Is Exempt From the FMCSA Clearinghouse?

2025-03-28 16:53:00

DOT Compliance

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If you own a trucking company, you’re well aware of the risks of hiring drivers with drug and alcohol violations. Serious accidents at the hands of these drivers may cost you a fortune in destroyed products and, worse, lawsuits. With this in mind, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has designed the Clearinghouse, aiming to protect trucking companies from inevitable incidents.

The Clearinghouse does have drawbacks, and by digging deeper, your trucking company might wonder about the drivers that the system doesn’t flag. Who is exempt from the FMCSA Clearinghouse? Read about the commercial driver requirements and exemptions below, and then check out our FMCSA compliance checklist.

What Is the FMCSA Clearinghouse?

Years ago, the truck drivers you fired for a drug or alcohol violation could simply pack up and move to another trucking company. Being let go for substance use wasn’t a flashing sign on the driver’s resume, so trucking companies were in the dark. The FMCSA, recognizing that such drivers posed a safety risk, gave the Secretary of Transportation the authority to establish the Clearinghouse.

The goal of this program is to help employers identify drivers who fail to report an alcohol or drug violation they received while working for a previous trucking company. The other side of it is that drivers must receive the proper treatment before operating commercial vehicles on public roads again.

Under the program, employers must follow several rules:

Immediately report drug and alcohol violations to the Clearinghouse.
Run a Clearinghouse query for violations before allowing drivers to operate commercial vehicles on public roads (current and prospective employees).
Check the Clearinghouse annually for all current employees.

The FMCSA also stipulates that State driver licensing agencies must check the Clearinghouse before issuing, upgrading, renewing, or transferring a commercial driver’s license. These SLDAs will review a driver’s information when the FMCSA provides notification of a status change. They must also downgrade the licenses of drivers with a prohibited status until the driver completes the proper return-to-duty process.

Are There Any FMCSA Exemptions?

Who is exempt from the FMCSA Clearinghouse? Notably, very few employers and drivers are exempt from this database.

If your trucking enterprise thinks that all of these alcohol and drug testing rules sound too cumbersome to be sustainable, it isn’t alone. Still, the FMCSA does provide an exemption for drivers who only perform FTA-regulated safety-sensitive functions. There are also exemptions for commercial drivers who drive to a television production or theatrical site.

Note that the FMCSA requires a public commenting period before granting an exemption. After reviewing these comments, the authority will decide whether to allow an exemption for a driver or an employer. Qualified exemptions receive relief from the Clearinghouse requirements for five years, after which they may request a renewal.

Real-Life Cases of Companies Requesting FMCSA Clearinghouse Exemptions

Although the FMCSA Clearinghouse is a program with good intentions, the significant burden shows for many trucking companies. Employers spend time and money running queries on the Clearinghouse annually. They may also waste time disputing FMCSA violations.

Who is exempt from the FMCSA Clearinghouse? Many companies have applied for (and received) FMCSA exemptions, but the most notable owner-operator exclusions have included the following cases:

Carrier transfer: A waste management company received an exemption when transferring drivers between two carriers with different DOT numbers. They didn’t have to requalify already-qualified employees through the Clearinghouse.
Organizational structure: Motion Picture Compliance Solutions received an exemption after stating that the Clearinghouse requirements did not fit its company model.
Financial constraints: A school transportation company applied for an exemption because the Clearinghouse rules were costing it hundreds of thousands of dollars, making it difficult to hire enough school bus drivers.

FMCSA exemptions are few and far between, but they do happen. If the Clearinghouse requirements are causing undue hardship for your trucking company, you may qualify for an exemption.

What Happens If Your Trucking Company Doesn’t Comply With Drug and Alcohol Testing Rules?

Do federal regulations, compliance, and administrative tasks feel like a waste of time? Will anything happen to you if you ignore the FMCSA Clearinghouse stuff? At first, probably not.

However, one DOT compliance audit is all it takes. The FMCSA takes Clearinghouse rulebreakers very seriously. If you’d like to avoid a fine of up to $5,833 per violation of Subpart G, it’s best not to risk it.