Recently, multiple large carriers have been requesting exemptions from the FMCSA that would allow them to use hair testing instead of urine testing for drug screening purposes. It’s a topic that’s been hotly debated already, and now the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO – which has 32 member unions – has submitted a comment to the petition which provides a forceful argument against hair testing.
While petitions have also been filed by other carriers, the TTD attached their comment to a petition submitted by J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc., Schneider National Carriers, Inc., Werner Enterprises, Inc., Knight Transportation, Inc., Dupre Logistics, Inc., and Maveric Transportation, LLC.
The carriers claim that they should be allowed to use hair testing instead of urine testing since hair tests are more sensitive and therefore reveal a higher rate of drug contamination. But according to the TTD, that higher rate of contamination could be largely due to false positives, incidental exposure, and variables as benign as different hair color.
Opponents of hair testing, including OOIDA, have claimed in the past that hair testing has a higher rate of false positives. According to the TTD comments, this can be partially attributed to a lack of regulation. Urine testing is standardized and must follow strict protocols, but hair testing has no such oversight. Congress mandated that the Department of Health and Human Services should come up with hair testing guidelines as part of the 2015 Fast Act. Those guidelines were due in 2016, but have not yet been published.
Critics also point out that while urine testing checks for use of drugs, hair testing can return a positive result from even incidental exposure in public places. That’s in part because the DOT cutoff level for a positive result for marijuana in a urine test is 15ng/ml, while in hair testing the proposed cutoff is .1pg/mg, or as the TTD puts it, “one-tenth of 1 part per trillion.”
Some types of hair are more likely to retain traces of drugs. People with darker or more porous hair are more likely to test positive, as are those who have artificially colored their hair.
Since hair testing cannot distinguish between drug use and incidental exposure, the TTD claims that it does not fulfil DOT requirements.
Aside from the false positives, the TTD also opposes hair testing since Congress mandated that it can only be used for the FMCSA’s purposes once federal guidelines are created.
The TTD comments also seemed to imply that the data used to promote the efficacy of hair testing came from a source that couldn’t be trusted: The study cited was conducted by a major for-profit hair testing lab.
Signed by Edward Wytkind, President of TTD, the comment concluded that “with jobs on the line, FMCSA must have complete confidence that its drug tests are reliably accurate. Hair testing fails this threshold, and we therefore request that FMCSA deny the Petitioner’s petition.”
You can view the TTD comment in its entirety here.
Source: truckinginfo, fleetowner, ccj, regulations.gov, AFL-CIO
Anon says
We need to stand up against hair testing our livelihoods are a stake just because come business wants to make money!
Mark A Berry says
What makes the the difference were they get the sample from if you got nothing to hide, hell pluck it from anywhere..but if your trying to hide something or protect and employee well now Shame on them..lol
Gcd says
It seems as though you didn’t guide understand the arguement, and and trust me everyone on this planet has something to hide.
Jason says
If you as a person stayed in a hotel and smelled people smoking weed in another room as you walked past. it would show up in your hair as a marijuana positive on a hair test. Do you want to lose your job and be blacklisted because there are no detailed regulations and standards for hair samples yet.
Steve says
So true.It’s BS. You can get cancer from secondhand smoke.
Misti says
Your full of it, second hand pot smoke gotten in the hall from a closed room will not cause you to test positive unless you’re already smoking.
Professor Getitright says
Thats where you are wrong…. the smoke if heavy can and does settle into your hair and pores , its not enough to fail a urine test however a hair test is different, and you CAN fail a folical test from second hand smoke…. geeze if your going to be sarcastic at least be correct
Pete says
Yea Mark, and while we are at it, let’s let the police come into our house, unannounced and without any warrant because, after all, you don’t have anything to hide.
Bee says
Great point! I am sick and tired of the B.S. Justification for allowing privacy violation by saying “what is the problem if you are not guilty and have nothing to hide”? What a looser statement!!
RANDALL says
that is whats wrong with trucking people like you wont stand for nothing but when you don’t have a job don’t cry because its all your fought
Lloyd Smith says
Urine testing is used to see if you are under the influence of drugs just as an alcohol breath test. Hair testing goes back 6 to 10 months. Which is why it should not be used period. You are not under the influence after a week or even 3 or days. What was taken even 2 weeks ago will not effect you today. .so nobody should have to take a hair test
Ed Loar says
depends on the drug, some can stay in your system for over a month, also body size , ( weight ) also has a lot to do with it, traces of drugs stay longer in the fatty tissue cells than they do on a skinny person.
jeremy says
That’s false. You need to familiarize yourself with what controlled substances are water soluble vs. fat soluble and what factors determine how long a particular controlled substance will be detected by urinalysis. For instance, females physiology naturally contains more fat cells than males. THC will remain detectable in females longer than in males.
How much body fat an individual has also determines how long THC remains in their system.
The Fed USDOT has the most effective drug testing program there is.
Professor Getitright says
You must work for the DOT…. what if I had oral surgery 2 weeks ago and took an opiate for 3 days, its going to show up in my hair & not only fail me but mark me as a drug addict, which im not. Therefore destroying my reputation as a driver and a person that chose to say no to addiction. Screw that
Mike C says
I have nothing to hide and don’t go place where others are smoking weed, but I do find it interesting that the petitioners are a who’s who of bottom feeder trucking companies who would love nothing more than to create a shortage of drivers so they can cry for more more dangerous foreign born drivers who can’t drive safely, wash their feet in the sink ,and throw their used toilet paper on the floor.
Ed Loar says
these companies get a government kickback for hiring student drivers
( strengthening the workforce ) there for they love it when they can hire a young new driver and find a way to dispose of them in a mth or so because of a failed drug test, giving them the chance to not only hire another new driver, but also a lot of the time the new driver has that dream of owning his own truck and is running a lease to own thrpough these companies , which they also loose because of the failed test and not being able to drive for 3 yrs or have to take a drug rehab course, ( paid out of your own pocket ) it’s just a big corporate scam that us drivers are caught in, speak up and out on these issues , it does and will make a difference.
Bee says
Funny, but sadly you have a point!
William K Baxter says
How do you know if they’re smoking weed? Not all pot is “smoked” anymore. Some people are vaping it.I live in Nevada which just legalized it. If you have ever been here,you’d know there will be PLENTY of unintended contact with ALL KINDS of foreign substances at the casinos/hotels.
Until they can conduct a test that differentiates between unintended contact and ACTUAL use, it should not be used as a “reliable” test.
Mike C says
*places
ricky bobby says
It’s not about nothing to hide people, it’s about control stand up for your rights to privacy in this country. once they get that from you then they will take more right away it’s about privacy not about nothing to hide wake up America turn your TV off stop eating GMOs stop drinking fluoride water and read a book
mousekiller says
One drawback to hair testing ..example= Lets say you go into a busy bar. smoke and other odors are present. When you come out into fresh air you stink like the bar. Just like smokers have that distinct smell about them and soap and water does not get rid of it.That stink is on your clothes and your hair , your skin. Changing clothes doesn’t get it out of your hair or off your skin. Same thing if you go past someone smoking grass.Residue ( smoke) gets on you and you get popped for a hair test your done. Doesn’t matter if you smoked it or not . It is on you. That is to me the problem with hair drug testing. Just being near it can cost you your job and career.
Frankie says
Hair testing HA!! Trucking companies are lucky they can hold on to the dangling amount of good drivers there are. This is industry is on its way out. Thank God I have roughly 12 years left. If I even make it.
Old man says
Too many false positives by cheap testing methods.
Steve says
Way to many.
Kay says
For those of you that say you have “nothing to hide” or “don’t go places where people smoke weed” ..The truth is, hair testing is VERY sensitive, like the nose of a bloodhound. Even if you don’t have anything to hide or don’t go to ‘places where people do drugs’ the truth is… PEOPLE DO DRUGS EVERYWHERE you go (outside of your home). You just don’t know it because, well, you don’t do drugs.
So if a trace of some narcotic were to come in contact with your hair and then you march into a hair drug testing lab, soooo sure that it’s just another day because you have nothing to worry about because you don’t do drugs and don’t go places where people do drugs, there’s a great chance that you, yourself, in all your Mr. Rogers Ned Flanders glory, could end up testing positive for drugs. You’ll be confused and trying to explain your case, but everyone will look at you like a drugy. And in the meantime, your driving privileges will be revoked while you waste your money to re-tested.
Kay says
And remember, truckers shower less often than ‘others’ so residuals can get comfortable in our hair longer.
Tim says
I don’t get it the way you saying how you hair get dirty then if someone inject drug then he doesn’t have to worry because his hair didn’t come in to contact with drugs
It doesn’t work that way , I think your hair getting dirty through your blood
Jeff Pearson says
And where are they going to get a hair sample from somebody who is shaved clean? Not allow them employment? And what about people with long hair..that doobie you smoked 8 or 10 years ago might show up..or what ever the lenght of the hair..this could discriminate against women more than men..because the hair can store the drugs that you were using.. or just passing by at a party..or what about that prescription that you had from years ago would show up that there isnt a record of…these trucking companies think they will nail this in the bud…lets force all of them and their office staff to do the hair drug testing first..tomorrow that office will be half empty because of the failures.. Pee testing has been successful so far..just why do these companies want to be so invasive? What will they want next? An anal probe?
Pete says
Start drug testing Congress!!!!! They claim that truckers have to endure drug testing because of safety concerns, well Congress is making decisions that affect our lives on a daily basis
DRUG TEST CONGRESS!!!!!!
Walter says
FOLLOW THE MONEY
Melinda says
I’ll just say this that no one will ever cut my hair and if they try to take my job because I refuse then I’ll see them in court it’s not only against my relegation it’s bad enough when you get followed to the bathroom to piss in a cup with someone you have never met or seen it’s. Just altogether against the constitution of the United States rights as an American!!!!!!
robin says
The first time that I had hair testing done even though they say that they can take it from “any part of the body” this ass came up and next thing I know I heard” snip” and I’m looking at about a half inch chunk of hair in her hand (granted, my hair is down below my waist) so imagine my horror when I saw that. It’s like what the hell, are you trying to scalp me?
A year later when the company that I worked for requested for a “random” test for another hair follicle test… I said I wasn’t going to do it… They said that would be a refusal.
I told the tester about what happened last time and they said that the person was lazy and they were only supposed to take small snippets.
Still… I’ve never done drugs and I never drink (and I’m real boring at parties) but I shouldn’t have to cut off a part of my body for my damn job
One more point, if you’re going to require hair follicle testing… They should limit the frequency that they are allowed to do it.
Mark says
Man, am I glad I retire in 4 years. I’ve had MORE than enough of the DOT and their regulations. I happen to enjoy smoking a joint now and then, but I can’t (and don’t) because it’s not worth losing my job, and probably career, over. But what I do at home should have zero bearing on my job. As long as I show up to work sober and ready to drive, and stay that way while on the clock, it’s nobody’s damn business what I do on my time. Yet I have to play the game, or find another career. Like I said…4 more years of this bs. Then, if I want to do what any other non-CDL driver wants to legally do in my state…smoke a joint…I damn well will!
robin says
Very well put, that’s also my same argument about being required to wear a CPAP mask whether you really need it or not is that they’re telling you what you have to do on your own time. E.g., go camping for two weeks where is no electricity and you can’t use your mask guess what you won’t have a job when you get back. Oh yeah, and let’s not get into the lack of choice of treatments that are approved by the FDA that’s a whole another topic.
RL says
study up people, with a hair test they can see what a person did 10 + years ago if they want to go back that far ,
R.J. says
As a military brat, I’ve had a crew cut since I was old enough to grow hair.
At age 60, my hair is thinning badly. I was literally denied a job due to insufficient hair length to take the follicle test for the DOT physical.
Robin says
Ok regardless if your a trucker or not…. hair follicle testing should not be denied as conclusive evidence!!! With the fact of hair being so porouse (even porouse) at all it should be dismissed because we cant control what it absorbs from our surroundings. Companies and child services and any other individuals demanding one to label individuals a drug user should be pienalized or taken to court for defamation of character… the fact that cetin medications and over the counter drugs like cold, asthma, or ADHD medication will give a false testing and once tested, treated like a lieing addict and lives destroyed because of this unreliable evidence is upsurd and those condemned and wrongfully accused should have the right to sue.. it doesn’t mean your hiding anything just protecting your life and family..