FMCSA DER TrainingDesignated Employer Representative

Yes. This edition combines DOT Part 40 procedures with FMCSA Part 382 responsibilities, including hiring and Clearinghouse queries, testing deadlines, reporting, driver eligibility, and records. It is designed for motor-carrier programs; it is not a substitute for FAA, FRA, FTA, PHMSA, or USCG-specific instruction or the separate reasonable-suspicion supervisor course.

Yes. Your $99 seat includes English and Spanish narrated lessons, slides, quizzes, final assessment, and downloadable learner resources. Choose your language in the course player. Completion includes a certificate with a bilingual regulatory crosswalk.

Continue the course already assigned in your account. Existing enrollments, progress, certificates, invitations, and purchased seats remain with that edition. New purchases from this page receive the updated FMCSA course.

Under 49 CFR 40.3, a DER is an employee authorized by the employer to take immediate action to remove employees from safety-sensitive duties and to make required decisions in the testing and evaluation process. Employers subject to DOT drug and alcohol testing rules designate a DER; service agents cannot serve as the DER.

The DER role and duties come from 49 CFR Part 40 (DOT's testing-procedures rule) and, for motor carriers, 49 CFR Part 382 (FMCSA). DOT/ODAPC and the applicable DOT agency enforce those rules. DOT does not prescribe a specific DER course, exam, or number of training hours.

DOT requires covered employers to designate a DER and makes the employer responsible for Part 40 compliance, but it does not prescribe a specific DER course, exam, or number of training hours. Employers still need a DER who can correctly carry out the testing, removal, communication, and recordkeeping decisions assigned by Part 40; this course trains those responsibilities.

No. DOT’s §40.3 guidance states that only the employer or an actual employee of the employer may perform the DER function; service agents, including C/TPAs and outside safety consultants, cannot act as DERs. They may support the program, but the employer must retain an internal DER with decision authority.

They are distinct roles. The reasonable-suspicion supervisor training is the 60/60 requirement of 49 CFR 382.603; the DER administers the drug-and-alcohol program and makes removal/testing decisions under 49 CFR Part 40. One person may hold both roles, but the trainings serve different functions.

Part 40 sets no fixed recurrence for DER training; employers keep the DER current with program and regulatory changes. There is no federal expiration on the certificate.

Yes — fully online, self-paced, about 2–3 hours, English and Spanish, with an instant completion certificate.

The named DER and back-ups, plus HR/compliance and safety leaders who administer a DOT drug-and-alcohol program; C/TPA account managers who support employers also benefit.