Any one else ever hear of this? Employment history?

Sorry. It's 7 years minimum. Including gaps between jobs. You are required to submit this information. Homeland Security is indirectly interested in your history.

Some companies go back 10 years. There was a time I supported 20 years on paper. Half out of business. But it's all there.

There are databases that can be accessed. One used to be in Little Rock but has since moved to MN. THAT one for a fee can pull anything, everything on ANY American, living or dead since the day our Nation was founded. I did a little research under myself about a decade ago with that particular data base company under my own name and paid the retail cost of that data. What I got back was what... to be ... *Hunts for words... they knew more than I did about my own life. Even some medical and other information not shared by family.

I asked to erase that. They said are you sure? If you did, your history and so on will cease to exist and you probably will find severe limitations on being able to continue with credit, insurance and so on.

There are data bases out there and some of them are really good for those who know how to look for it. And all of them evolve as in gaining more information daily.

 

As for the previous employer not being able to find out about past employment that is not trucking related, many employers report to Hire Right, they do backgrounds for more than just trucking so some jobs may be disclosed even if you fail to put them on your application. As for the legal requirements, although an employer can always ask for more than minimum compliance, the regulation in 391.21 only requires truck driving employment to be listed 10 years back.

391.21
(11) For those drivers applying to operate a commercial motor vehicle as defined by part 383 of this subchapter, a list of the names and addresses of the applicant's employers during the 7-year period preceding the 3 years contained in paragraph (b)(10) of this section for which the applicant was an operator of a commercial motor vehicle, together with the dates of employment and the reasons for leaving such employment

 

Companies can write their own rules as far as how far back they want to go with employment history.
However, the general rule is; 10 years for an experienced driver and 3 years for a new cdl graduate or student.