§40.17 Is an employer responsible for obtaining information from its service agents?

Current as of Oct 29, 2026Last amended Oct 17, 2016Official text on eCFR ↗

Yes, as an employer, you are responsible for obtaining information required by this part from your service agents. This is true whether or not you choose to use a C/TPA as an intermediary in transmitting information to you. For example, suppose an applicant for a safety-sensitive job takes a pre-employment drug test, but there is a significant delay in your receipt of the test result from an MRO or C/TPA. You must not assume that “no news is good news” and permit the applicant to perform safety-sensitive duties before receiving the result. This is a violation of the Department's regulations.

Compiled from the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR), an editorial compilation and not an official legal edition of the CFR. The official text is the Federal Register and the annual CFR edition. §40.17 on eCFR.