What Do DOT Employee Assistance Program Rules Require?

Three federal agencies, FAA, PHMSA, and the U.S. Coast Guard, require an employee assistance program (EAP) as part of a drug testing program. These are the FAA for aviation employers (14 CFR 120.115), PHMSA for pipeline operators (49 CFR 199.113), and the U.S. Coast Guard for marine employers (46 CFR 16.401). Each rule lets the employer set up the EAP within its internal personnel services or contract with an entity that provides EAP services, and each requires education and training on drug use.

The education elements are nearly the same in the three rules. They include display and distribution of informational material, a community service hot-line telephone number for employee assistance, and the employer's policy on drug use. The FAA policy also covers the consequences of using drugs while performing safety-sensitive functions, receiving a verified positive drug test result, or refusing a required test (14 CFR 120.115). The Coast Guard policy addresses drug and alcohol use in the workplace (46 CFR 16.401).

Training is where the rules differ:

• FAA. Employees receive initial training on the effects and consequences of drug use on individual health, safety, and work environment, and on the manifestations and behavioral cues that may indicate drug use and abuse. Supervisors who make reasonable cause determinations receive at least 60 minutes of initial training plus a reasonable recurrent program, and the employer documents the training and identifies it in its drug testing program (14 CFR 120.115).
• PHMSA. The EAP covers employees and the supervisory personnel who decide reasonable cause testing. Those supervisors receive one 60-minute period on the indicators of probable drug use. The operator may include employee rehabilitation at its discretion (49 CFR 199.113).
• USCG. Crewmembers and supervisory personnel are trained on the effects and consequences of drug and alcohol use and the behavioral cues of use and abuse, and the training is documented. Supervisory personnel receive at least 60 minutes (46 CFR 16.401).

FTA uses a similar requirement under a different name, an education and training program. Covered transit employees receive at least 60 minutes of drug training, and supervisors receive at least 60 minutes on drug indicators and at least 60 minutes on alcohol indicators (49 CFR 655.14). Supervisor training for DOT-regulated employers in motor carrier operations has its own minimums of 60 minutes on alcohol misuse and 60 minutes on controlled substances (49 CFR 382.603).