§ 31304. Employer responsibilities

• (a) An employer may not allow an employee to operate a commercial motor vehicle in the United States during a period that the employer knows or should reasonably know that the employee—
  • (1) has a driver’s license revoked, suspended, or canceled by a State, has lost the right to operate a commercial motor vehicle in a State, or has been disqualified from operating a commercial motor vehicle; or
  • (2) has more than one driver’s license (except as allowed under section 31302 of this title ).
• (b)
  • (1) Except as provided in paragraph (3), an employer shall ascertain the driving record of each driver it employs—
    • (A) by making an inquiry at least once every 12 months to the appropriate State agency in which the driver held or holds a commercial driver’s license or permit during such time period;
    • (B) by receiving occurrence-based reports of changes in the status of a driver’s record from 1 or more driver record notification systems that meet minimum standards issued by the Secretary; or
    • (C) by a combination of inquiries to States and reports from driver record notification systems.
  • (2) A copy of the reports received under paragraph (1) shall be maintained in the driver’s qualification file.
  • (3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a driver employed by an employer who, in any 7-day period, is employed or used as a driver by more than 1 employer—
    • (A) if the employer obtains the driver’s identification number, type, and issuing State of the driver’s commercial motor vehicle license; or
    • (B) if the information described in subparagraph (A) is furnished by another employer and the employer that regularly employs the driver meets the other requirements under this section.
  • (4) In this section, the term “driver record notification system” means a system that automatically furnishes an employer with a report, generated by the appropriate agency of a State, on the change in the status of an employee’s driver’s license due to a conviction for a moving violation, a failure to appear, an accident, driver’s license suspension, driver’s license revocation, or any other action taken against the driving privilege.