
What Information Employers Will Review.
An employer who is regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is required to investigate, at a minimum, the
information defined in this booklet for each driver they hire. Employers, by regulation, must obtain specific information about a driver from all
previous employers who employed the driver within the previous three years.
Employers will use the information they receive for hiring decisions only and only those involved in the hiring process will have access to the
information. Employers are required to keep the information that they receive on file and will do so in a confidential manner, so that a driver’s
personal information is not accessible to unauthorized individuals. Now that you have a better understanding of what goes on behind-thescenes
we will define the information employers will request, receive and review when deciding to hire you.
When you apply for a job with a FMCSA-regulated employer, the prospective employer (meaning the employer who is considering hiring you)
will provide you with information explaining your rights during the hiring process. The employer will then request that you sign a written
authorization so that the employer can perform the required investigations into your background. The employer will contact your previous
employers to verify that you were employed by those employers as well as to verify the basic employment information you provide on your
application. The employer will also request Safety Performance History information about you.
Safety Performance History Investigation
A Safety Performance History investigation includes a check of your accident records and drug and alcohol testing records for the previous
three years from all FMCSA-regulated employers who you worked for. If you did not have an accident or any alcohol or drug-related conduct
to report during the previous three years, your previous employer will verify this. In the event that you were not subject to the drug and
alcohol testing regulations during your previous employment, this will be verified as well. We’ll now review the Safety Performance History
information in more detail.
Accident Records
An accident is defined by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) as: “An occurrence involving a commercial motor vehicle
operating on a highway in interstate or intrastate commerce which results in a:
- Fatality;
- Bodily injury to a person who, as a result of the injury, immediately receives medical treatment away from the scene of the accident; or
- One or more motor vehicles incurring disabling damage as a result of the accident, requiring the motor vehicle(s) to be transported
away from the scene by a tow truck or other motor vehicle.
If you were involved in an accident during the previous three years the prospective employer will request, receive and review the following
information from the employer who employed you at the time of the accident:
- Accident records that include the following data elements for each:
- Date of the accident;
- City or town, or most near, where the accident occurred and the state where the accident occurred;
- Driver name;
- Number of injuries;
- Number of fatalities; and
- Whether hazardous materials, other then fuel spilled from the fuel tanks of the motor vehicles involved in the accident were
released
Accident information the previous employer may wish to provide that is retained pursuant to regulations of 49 CFR Part 390.15(b)(2),
or pursuant to the employer’s internal policies for retaining more detailed minor accident information. Such information may include
copies of accident reports required by State or other governmental entities or insurers
Drug and Alcohol Records
If you were subject to the drug and alcohol testing regulations within the previous three years, the prospective employer will request, receive
and review the following information from your FMCSA- regulated employers during that time:
- Whether, within the previous three years, you violated the drug and alcohol prohibitions under 49 CFR Part 40 or 382;
- Whether you failed to undertake or complete a rehabilitation program prescribed by a Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) pursuant to
49 CFR Part 40 or 382. If your previous employer does not know this information (e.g. you were terminated prior to completing the
program), the prospective motor carrier must obtain, directly from you, documentation of your successful completion of the SAP’s
referral;
- 3.If you have successfully completed a SAP’s rehabilitation referral, and remained in the employment of the employer at the time, the
prospective employer must request information on whether you had the following testing violations subsequent to completion of the
SAP’s rehabilitation referral:
- An alcohol test with a result of 0.04 or higher alcohol concentration;
- A verified positive drug test
- A refusal to be tested (including either a verified adulterated or substituted drug test result)
Your Right to Review Information
The regulations permit you to review the information provided by your previous FMCSA-regulated employers. To do this, you must submit a
written request to the prospective employer who received your Safety Performance History information. You can make a request at any time,
including when applying for employment, or as late as thirty (30) days after being hired or being notified of denial of employment.
The prospective employer will provide this information to you within five (5) business days of receiving your written request. If the
prospective employer has not yet received the requested information from your previous employer(s), then the five-business day deadline
will begin when the prospective employer receives your information.
Performance History Information
If you do not arrange to pick up or receive the requested information within thirty (30) days of the prospective employer making them
available, the prospective motor carrier may consider you to have waived your request to review the information.
The prospective employer cannot change the information received. If you have issue with any of the information sent to the prospective
employer you must address it with your previous employer who sent the information.
Your Right to Request Corrections
If you believe the information provided by a previous employer contains incorrect information, you can request that your previous employer
makes corrections to the information. To do this, you must send a written request for corrections to the previous employer who provided the
information.
Effective October 30, 2004, your previous employer will respond to your request by doing one of two things within 15 days:
- Make the correction if:
- oYour previous employer agrees that the information they provided contains errors, they will correct the errors and forward the
information to your prospective employer.
- oYour previous employer corrects the information as you requested and forwards the information to the prospective employer, the
previous employer will also retain the corrected information as part of your Safety Performance History folder. Your previous
employer will provide the corrected information to subsequent prospective employers when requests for this information are
received.
- Notify you that no correction will be made if:
- Your previous employer does not agree that the information they provided contains errors, they will notify you of this. The
notification will indicate that your previous employer does not agree to correct the data.
Your Right to Rebut Information
You have the right to rebut, meaning outright contest, the information provided by a previous employer. If you wish to rebut information
provided by a previous employer you must send a written rebuttal to the previous employer with instructions to include the rebuttal with your
Safety Performance History information. By doing this, you will have a record on file that you contest the information. Whenever your Safety
Performance History information is requested, the previous employer will be required to include your rebuttal with the information they
provide. Here’s a closer look at what responsibilities your previous employer would have should they receive a rebuttal from you.
Effective October 30, 2004, within five (5) business days of receiving your rebuttal, your previous employer must:
- Forward a copy of the rebuttal to your prospective motor carrier employer; and
- Append the rebuttal to your Safety Performance History information, to be included as part of the response for any subsequent
investigating prospective employers for the duration of the three- year data retention requirement.
You may submit a rebuttal initially without a request for corrections, or subsequent to a request for corrections.
Contacting FMCSA
You can report failures of previous employers to correct information or to include your rebuttal as part of the Safety Performance History
information to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The procedures for filing a complaint with FMCSA are specified in
Part 386.12 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. You may also access FMCSA’s information line at 1-800-832-5660 for
assistance.