trucking

FMCSA Grants Waste Management Partial Relief on Driver Qualification Rules

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has partially approved an exemption request from Waste Management allowing limited relief from certain driver qualification and clearinghouse requirements when transferring operators among affiliated carriers with different USDOT numbers.

The agency granted WM authority to classify transferred drivers as single-employer operators under specific conditions. The company also received exemption from controlled substances testing when moving drivers between affiliates, provided those drivers participated in a WM random testing pool for the previous 12 months.

Additionally, FMCSA will permit WM to conduct limited rather than full clearinghouse queries during driver transfers. If a limited query reveals existing clearinghouse information, WM must obtain a full query to confirm driver eligibility before allowing the driver to operate commercial motor vehicles.

The agency denied WM's request for broad exemptions from pre-employment drug testing and clearinghouse requirements. Waste Management, which operates tens of thousands of commercial drivers across multiple affiliates in residential and commercial waste collection, filed the request in August 2024.