TWU Legislative Update regarding DOT Drug Testing

January 9, 2018

In November, we provided you information about the changes the US Department of Transportation (DOT) made to the federal drug testing requirements. As you recall, workers already subject to DOT drug tests will now be screened for four additional drugs, specifically, semi-synthetic opioids. That change took effect January 1, 2018. More information is available on the TWU website.

In our effort to keep you informed of updates relating to this DOT change, we’re alerting you to two documents DOT produced intended to help workers navigate the drug testing changes.

1. The first document is an Employee Notice, intended to provide some real-world interpretation of how the new drug testing process will occur. You can access that document here.

2. As you recall, under the revised DOT regulation, before a MRO reports information about your prescription drugs to DOT or employer, the MRO may give you 5 business days to ask your doctor to call the MRO and determine if the medication can be changed to one that does not pose a significant safety risk.

The second document is official DOT guidance that describes scenarios in which the MRO can report information about your legally prescribed medication to a third party (employer, etc) before those 5 business days have passed. The second DOT document is here.