Department of Transportation
Drug-Free Workplace Programs for Federal Agencies
The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) rule, 49 CFR Part 40, describes required procedures for conducting workplace drug and alcohol testing for all Federally regulated transportation industry.
A Federal Drug-Free Workplace Program was initiated by Executive Order 12564 (Drug-Free Federal Workplace, 1988). It established the goal of a Drug-Free Federal Workplace and made it a condition of employment for all Federal employees to refrain from using illegal drugs on or off-duty. The following year, Congress passed legislation (Pub. L. 100-71) designed to establish uniformity among Federal agencies’ drug testing plans. The purpose is to establish reliable and accurate drug testing, employee access to drug testing records, confidentiality of drug test results, and centralized oversight of the drug testing program. Federal agencies received the Model Plan for a Comprehensive Drug-Free Workplace Program. It mandated the components and other critical features of Federal agency plans, and the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs, which addressed the scientific and technical guidelines to be used by agencies and their laboratories when it comes to drug testing of Federal employees.
