In commercial driving, the Clearinghouse means one specific thing: the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, a federal database of drug and alcohol programme violations by CDL and CLP holders. If you employ commercial drivers, querying it is not optional and it is not something your background check provider does for you by default. It is a separate registration, a separate query and a separate consent.
What the database actually holds
The Clearinghouse records drug and alcohol programme violations for holders of a commercial driver's licence or commercial learner's permit: verified positive test results, refusals to test, and the status of the return-to-duty process where one has been started. It is a violations database, not a general driving record and not a criminal record. A driver with a spotless Clearinghouse record can still have a poor motor vehicle record, and the two are queried separately from different places.
Full queries and limited queries
There are two kinds. A limited query asks only whether any information exists about the driver, and it can be run with a driver's general consent held by the employer. A full query returns the detail of any violation and requires the driver's specific electronic consent given inside the Clearinghouse itself. Pre-employment requires a full query. Annual checks on existing drivers may be run as limited queries, but the moment a limited query indicates that information exists, the employer has a short window to run a full query and must not let the driver perform safety-sensitive functions until it has.
How it fits beside the rest of a driver check
A complete pre-employment file for a commercial driver typically involves the Clearinghouse query, a motor vehicle record from each state where the driver has held a licence, previous employer safety performance history, the DOT physical and medical examiner certificate, and a pre-employment drug test under the Department of Transportation's testing rules. Those come from four or five different places, which is exactly why driver qualification file management exists as a purchased service rather than as a folder in a filing cabinet.
What it means for the employer's paperwork
Clearinghouse registration is done by the employer or by a designated consortium or third-party administrator acting for it, and queries are paid for in query bundles bought from the FMCSA. That is a separate line of cost from your screening provider's per-check rate, and it is one of the reasons a quoted price for driver screening and a quoted price for general employment screening are not comparable numbers.
Questions people ask about clearinghouse
Do I have to query the Clearinghouse before hiring a CDL driver?
Yes. A full pre-employment query is required before a driver performs safety-sensitive functions, and it needs the driver's specific electronic consent given within the Clearinghouse itself, not just a signature on your own form.
Is the Clearinghouse the same as a background check?
No. It is a federal record of drug and alcohol programme violations for commercial drivers. It does not contain criminal history, and a criminal background check does not contain Clearinghouse information.
How often do I have to check existing drivers?
At least once a year for each driver you employ. That annual check may be a limited query, but if it comes back indicating that information exists you must run a full query and keep the driver out of safety-sensitive work until you have.
Who pays for queries?
The employer. Queries are bought from the FMCSA in bundles, separately from anything your screening provider or consortium charges for administering the programme.