A few potentially dumb questions...

So my employer sent me thru CDL Training School in 2017. After I passed the road test at the DMV, I went in and got my license. The next day I got my tanker endorsement and back to work I went. I am the only driver at my location.

Dumb question #1: Is my employer obligated to register with the FMCSA as a company that employs a Commercial Driver? If so, why? If not, why not?

My reason for asking is that I can't get straight answers from anyone at my job about this and not one time have I been drug tested in the 5 years I have had my CDL. I have applied to other employers and it seems I need some clean drug tests showing on my record to get a new job. (I have recently registered in the Clearing House)

Dumb question #2: After obtaining my CDL, how does the FMCSA find out that I am now a Commercial Driver and should be subject to the drug/alcohol testing program? Do I tell them? Does the state of Virginia tell them? Does my employer tell them? How does FMCSA get in touch with me to do the testing if I am not on their radar?

None of this was covered in CDL Training School by the way, so I assumed once I gained CDL Driver status at the DMV, the DMV would forward that info to the FMCSA. No?

I have just started to apply to other places and I'm finding things in the applications that raise these questions and some things that will possibly keep me from being hired.

Verifiable driving. How is my driving verified? I drive about 30 miles a day so I don't have to keep a log and I never drive for more than 4 hours on any given day.

I feel like my company is trying to do some shady stuff and if I have to drop the FMCSA hammer on them, I will. I just want to leave there for another job but the lack of info I have so far is getting in the way.

Maybe someone here can help. Thank you for reading.

 

Verifiable would be work experience. Local companies would just call to verify your current employment. Or past if that's the case.

If your looking at a mega. They'll want actual long haul experience with snow. Other long hauls might just want to know that you can drive.

Fmcsa will probably find you off your medical certificate. Or commercial license. There's also paperwork when your filling out the newly hired papers. I believe.

 

The thing is, I don't think my employer has registered with DOT/FMCSA. I have no DOT # on my truck or any documents. Like I said, I am the only driver at my location. I'm not even sure they are required to register with FMCSA because they only have one driver and I drive less than 30 miles a day.

 

Just tell them that they do need to follow the rules the same as any other intrastate CMV owner.

Class A and B need to have proof of a negative pre-employment drug screen before anyone gets behind the wheel...Drug and Alcohol DOT violations come with stiff fines that are not negotiable like other audit violation fines.

The daily fine for using a driver without those pesky results is $50K for every day...average 220 - 225 workdays a year [weekends off] so multiply 220 x 5 years...what the hey that's only $55 Million to date...won't look too good in court after a severe accident...

 

Only thing that matters is the weight rating of the truck you drive.
If under 10k lbs then it's not a CMV as per regulations. So nothing really needs to be registered or anything done about it.
If over 10,000 pounds, but less than 26,000 pounds then it is a CMV but you don't need a CDL to drive the truck so the different set of regulations that come into play there. Most notably as a driver you just need to do the stuff like inspection and whatever. The company needs to not even do the drug testing at that point.
It's only after you get over the 26,000 lb weight rating that the full CDL requirements come into play, which includes drug testing and a whole slew of other regulations.

 

Also, no you don't need a record of drug testing from the clearinghouse. Specifically the clearinghouse will only tell a new company if you failed and if you've finished a sap program. They don't tell another company how many times you have passed or if you even in the Clearinghouse unless you failed.

 

It's a dual axle tractor and I pull a dry bulk tanker. 31,000# full of fuel and carry 48-49000# on it daily. Gross is 80,000 daily.

 

What, wait. You carry fuel? Do you have a Hazmat endorsement?

 

I haul plastic resin.

 

That's how I read it at first too. But rereading it I think what he meant is he's 31k with tractor fuel tanks full and trailer empty. Basically his tare weight.