Is it law to get a new medical card when getting on with a new company?

You could make such a law but that still would not preclude a potential employer from requiring their own prehire medical screening, having nothing to do with a medical card. There is still too many "doctors" performing weak or non-existent medical exams.

 

When I was recruiting for a major leasing company, if we thought a given candidate couldn't physically do the job( i.e. overweight, couldn't lift required items etc.) we advised the physician doing the physical to check for such abilities. That way the bad guy was the doctor, not HR. Well within a companies right to do so.

 

The problem with that is what happens when the new company cannot verify the medical card? Until there is a central place to verify medical cards, I can see why companies want to run their own. It helps the company out with ambulance chasers.

Now once a company can check if the card is valid and not a forgery, I agree with you.

 

I just got my 2 year medical card in August. I’m currently going through the hiring process with UPSF and today they sent me for another DOT physical even though I just had one 3 months ago. No big deal, even though it seems like a waste of money to me, I’m not paying for it so I could care less.

 

That's the bottom line. It don't matter when you got your card. If the company wants a new card and you want the new job. Then you get a new card. The company pays for it. So it's not a big deal.

I guess if you would rather go to your own clinic. IF ALLOWED by the company. YOU can pay for it. I don't know about companies having contracts with certain clinics. But they do have charge accounts.

Having a cdl, means having exams. Don't want exams. Don't get a cdl.

We also have to have randoms. If the company hates you enough. Or whatever the reason. Cuz I KNOW it's not some random computer generating names and companies being notified.

There's no law regarding exams with new hires. There is HOWEVER, a pre hire law which requires a pee test. So you're really not getting the job anyways without visiting the clinic first.

 

Many companies (last 2 that I worked for) used a work-steps type physical test to make sure you could physically do the job. Simulated raising and lowering of dolly legs. Lifting the weight of a tarp from the ground up onto a trailer-height platform, dump work used a shovel to move rocks for a period of time, etc. Stuff you're likely to have to do on the job. If you pass, you're eligible for hire. If not, you're not. Even if you've passed the DOT physical, you may not be physically capable to do the specific job. Basically when they say "must be able to lift 75 pound", they want to know that you can...not just that you claim that you can.

It is BS for any company to ask their physicians to go above and beyond the specifications laid out by the feds to deny someone a medical certification just because they can't do a job-specific task unique to that specific small sector of the industry the employer happens to participate in. For example, if you instructed your doctors to deny me a medical certification because I couldn't lift a 100 pound tarp up over my head and toss it on top of a load, and that denial of a medical certification caused issues getting one elsewhere (for example, doc asks " have you ever been denied a medical certification?), you're opening yourself up to a lawsuit. There are specific requirements a driver must meet to get the certification. Meet them, you certify. If not, then deny. You don't get to add your own criteria.

 

You may have misunderstood. We let the doctor decide at the physical examination whether the candidate was able to do the tasks involved. He already had a physical card when he applied for our position. He was told he was conditionally offered the position pending the outcome of the physical and drug tests. The company involved has a significant legal staff that set the policy, along with the HR dept. They were not concerned about any repercussions.
And it is far from clear among the current crop of medical professionals who are on the registry about whether or not driver meets the specific requirements, and they indeed do "make up their own requirements". The whole thing about neck size and sleep apnea come to mind.

 

All these companies that retest the applicant with a medical card are filtering applicants. They use the doctor to cull the heard. That is it.

Unlike some are lead to believe, these companies have no shortage of drivers, applicants, or prospects. Medical coverage has been for a long time been assumed as part responsibility of the employer. As such, all the big companies and some smaller, are weeding out drivers that could be costly to their medical insurance or workers comp.

 

If that's your intent, find other avenues to thin the herd. By denying a person their medical certification despite their meeting all of the criteria to be certified, especially now with the database and states tracking this stuff, you're affecting more than JUST whether or not he/she works for you. That valid physical they have already passed that still has 18+ months left on it is now invalid. The NEXT examiner is going to want to know WHY they failed the previous attempt. You're messing with a person's livelihood and his (or her) ability to put food on their table just because you're too ########### to tell them "we don't want you working for us". Come up with an additional test, such as work steps, that will test their ability to perform the functions of the specific job opening you're trying to fill...completely separate from the DOT physical. Outfits that can't man up and be honest with a guy about why they don't want to hire him so they use the DOT physical as an excuse are why I refuse to work anywhere that won't accept the valid physical I've already got.

 

What the fmcsa requires and what a company requires are two different things...

If you have a valid med card with a certificate fmcsa does not require a company to force a new physical on you upon new hire.

If you have a valid med card with a certificate fmcsa does not require a company to demand a copy of your long form. They are only required to ask for a copy of your certificate to keep in your driver qualification file to satisfy the regs.

391.51 covers exactly what documention a company is required to keep in your DQ file.

Now the moon is the limit on what an individual company policy can require.