The pre-employment query of the Department of Transportation Clearinghouse results in more violations than any other aspect of the regulation. Employers should have employees sign a blanket consent form, which allows companies to run the required limited queries at least once every 12 months for the duration of employment. The document should be kept on file with the driver qualification file so that it can be easily referenced during an audit. Employers should take the time to verify that a full, pre-employment query is on file for every driver that has been hired since the regulation went into effect (January 2020).
