FMCSA’s latest enforcement actions shift compliance burden to fleets

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has made headlines by placing heavy scrutiny on non-domiciled CDLs, truck driver training institutions, and drivers’ ability to meet English language requirements. What’s more, the agency managed the rollout of its initiative to better track drivers’ medical qualifications via license records. These actions are undoubtedly placing a significant burden on the agency's regulatory and enforcement teams.

The agency is also creating operational hurdles for fleets.

Trucking companies are increasingly asking themselves about the implications of FMCSA’s new policies and regulations. Will they make it harder to find qualified drivers? Will they add time and steps to the driver hiring process? But perhaps the most daunting question is this: Do they create obligations to review the qualifications of drivers they have already hired?

For larger fleets in particular, the thought of having to test every driver to confirm English-language proficiency seems overwhelming. Lawyers guiding them will sometimes admit that it is impractical to do so, but caution that failing to do so creates some exposure in future crash litigation. The same holds true of validating whether current employees were trained by schools that have since been removed from FMCSA’s Training Provider Registry.

While it may be impractical for a motor carrier to re-evaluate each of its drivers, there are some steps the fleet can take to reduce its exposure.

Non-domiciled CDL compliance and license eligibility risks

Review each driver qualification file to determine if any drivers have non-domiciled CDLs. For those that do, create “flags” in the file management software to indicate when the drivers’ work authorizations and visas are due to expire. Also, determine if any CDLs have been issued by states that have since canceled licenses. California, for instance, recently announced it would cancel 17,000 CDLs issued improperly. The use of license/motor vehicle record monitoring services is a popular, efficient, and easy way to know which drivers always have current, valid licenses.

English proficiency enforcement and driver qualification testing

Begin testing each driver for compliance with the English language proficiency requirements and carefully track progress and results. It would be best to use the non-redacted version of FMCSA’s guidance to roadside enforcement officials on determining English language proficiency. This version is not widely available, but accessible through some state trucking associations for those who are members. Otherwise, fleets will have to use the redacted version available here to develop their own tests or contract with service providers who have created testing tools. Of note, the English language proficiency requirements apply to CDL and non-CDL holders (who drive trucks) alike.

Medical certification tracking and MVR monitoring requirements

You will need to have two sets of processes to meet the requirement that CDL holders have their medical qualifications tracked by their state licensing agencies. The first would be for drivers licensed in the five states that are not yet compliant with the national registry requirements. In these cases, the fleet should run a motor vehicle record (MVR) check 14 days after the driver submits his/her medical certificate to the state licensing agency to confirm it has been posted to the driver’s record. Drivers in these states are permitted to use paper med cards up to 60 days from the date of the exam to prove their qualifications. Outside of this period/exception, the MVR is the only valid way to prove a driver is medically qualified.

For all CDL holders (not just in the states that are yet to be compliant with the national registry), pull a motor vehicle record a few days before the scheduled expiration of the driver’s medical certificate to ensure that a new exam has been conducted. However, if the record doesn’t reflect that a new certificate has been recorded, the fleet should request another MVR a few days later. It is best to do so within a week of the driver’s exam to confirm there were no issues with the recording of the driver’s medical qualification. Otherwise, the driver’s license could be errantly downgraded, or the driver could be placed out of service during a roadside inspection.

CDL training school audits and decertification exposure risks

The exposure here is rather limited. Drivers who attended schools that have since been decertified still hold licenses that are valid. After all, they passed the mandated knowledge and skills tests. Also, the likelihood that any given driver in your fleet attended one of these schools is relatively small. Yet the most conservative fleets will determine which training school each driver attended, confirm the school was not decertified, and require affected drivers to pass company-administered tests to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to drive.

The most important recommendation is that fleets stay up to date on current events. For instance, as of this writing, Congress is considering Dalilah's Law, which would make dramatic changes to licensing requirements. First, it would require that all CDL exams, both knowledge and written tests, be conducted in English. Currently, states may administer the written exam in a foreign language or allow the use of an interpreter. Second, it would further restrict which drivers would be eligible to obtain non-domiciled CDLs.

Perhaps the most sweeping component of the draft legislation is a provision that would require states to review all current non-domiciled drivers to ensure they meet these new standards. Those who cannot meet the new requirements (e.g., pass a knowledge test in English) would have their licenses revoked. The bill, in its current form, would require states to complete this review within six months. In other words, fleets could very quickly discover that some of their drivers no longer hold valid licenses.

Of course, managing these evolving circumstances is all easier said than done—especially as it relates to license monitoring and changes to file management software. Complex tasks like these are why many fleets turn to compliance solutions providers. Fleetworthy and other companies have in-house expertise, stay abreast of regulatory and enforcement changes, and invest in dynamic software that adapts to new requirements.