Controlled Substances and Alcohol Misused Testing
2006-07-14
FTA-2006-24592-0002
04:00:00
https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/FTA-2006-24592-0002
Marianne
Freed
There are three areas where the Ohio Department of Transportation, Office of Transit requests clarification on the June 5, NPRM, Docket Number FTA-2006-24592 on Controlled Substances and Alcohol Misuse Testing.The first clarification needed is what entities are covered by the NPRM.  Is this regulation for private and/or nonprofit carriers who are contract providers?   Are direct recipients, subrecipients, or designated recipients such as community action organizations that receive Section 5311 funding directly from the state exempt from this NPRM?   Should the direct recipients, subrecipients, or designated recipients still be covered the same as they have always been under the Federal Transit Administration drug and alcohol regulations (drug and alcohol testing based on the percentage of work performed per employee, FTA vs FMCSA)? We would also like clarification on how national contractors, such as First Transit, Laidlaw, MV, determine which type of DOT test is conducted.   If this is determined based on the overall type of operation at the national level, these entities could end up testing all of their employees under FMCSA instead of FTA.   Ohio suggests using a location by location basis.   For example, if MV is the Section 5311 contract provider at a specific location, all of the employees at that location be tested under FTA, regardless of category of testing (FTA or FMCSA) that the company falls under when looking at the number of employees at the national level.The third area where we would like clarification concerns full time employees versus part time employees.  Ohio suggests the type of test (FTA or FMCSA) should be determined based on full time equivalent employees versus total number of employees at either the national or specific local location.  For example, if Laidlaw has 100 employees and 30 drive full time, year round for a Section 5311 subgrantee and the other 70 drive a school bus 4 hours a day during a school year, the type of test should be based on the full time equivalent number of employees and not the total number of employees.Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the NPRM.    