Return-to-duty, managed properly.

What happens after a violation

The moment a driver has a verified positive, a refusal, or a confirmed alcohol result of 0.04 or higher, they are immediately prohibited from performing any safety-sensitive function — for you or for any other DOT-regulated employer. The violation goes on the Clearinghouse record. It stays there, and the prohibition stays in force, until the driver completes the return-to-duty process in full.

You have obligations too. You must immediately remove the employee from safety-sensitive duty and provide them with a list of qualified Substance Abuse Professionals. That obligation exists whether or not you intend to keep them employed.

The return-to-duty process, step by step

1. SAP evaluation. A qualified Substance Abuse Professional conducts a face-to-face clinical evaluation and prescribes education, treatment, or both.
2. Complete the prescribed program. The driver completes exactly what the SAP directed — not a shortened version, not a different provider's course.
3. Follow-up evaluation. The SAP re-evaluates and, if satisfied, issues a written report releasing the driver for a return-to-duty test.
4. Return-to-duty test. A directly observed test with a verified negative result. Only an employer may order it — a driver cannot self-arrange one.
5. Follow-up testing plan. The SAP sets a schedule of at least six directly observed tests in the first 12 months, and may extend follow-up testing for up to five years.

The SAP must be independent

A SAP cannot have a financial or referral relationship that compromises independence, and the SAP who evaluates a driver may not also provide the treatment they prescribe unless specific conditions are met. This is why we provide a list of qualified SAPs rather than steering you to one. IPS administers the process; the clinical judgement stays independent, exactly as the rule requires.

What IPS actually does

We manage everything around the clinical work: providing the compliant SAP list, tracking the driver's progress through the process, arranging the directly observed return-to-duty test once the SAP releases them, loading the follow-up schedule into your program, running each unannounced follow-up test on time, and reporting the negative RTD result and follow-up completion to the Clearinghouse.

If a driver joins you mid-schedule, we obtain the existing follow-up plan and pick it up rather than starting over — a transfer that goes wrong more often than it goes right.

If you are not keeping the driver

You still must remove them from safety-sensitive duty, provide the SAP list and report the violation. What you are not required to do is return them to work. Terminating instead of rehabilitating is your call as an employer — but the reporting and referral obligations do not disappear with the employment.