{"data":{"id":"us/49-cfr-40.301","jurisdiction":"us","citation":"49 CFR 40.301","heading":"What is the SAP's function in the follow-up evaluation of an employee?","body":"(a) As a SAP, after you have prescribed assistance under § 40.293, you must re-evaluate the employee to determine if the employee has successfully carried out your education and/or treatment recommendations.\n(1) This is your way to gauge for the employer the employee's ability to demonstrate successful compliance with the education and/or treatment plan.\n(2) Your evaluation may serve as one of the reasons the employer decides to return the employee to safety-sensitive duty.\n(b) As the SAP making the follow-up evaluation determination, you must:\n(1) Confer with or obtain appropriate documentation from the appropriate education and/or treatment program professionals where the employee was referred; and\n(2) Conduct a clinical interview meeting the requirements of § 40.291(a)(1) with the employee to determine if the employee demonstrates successful compliance with your initial evaluation recommendations.\n(c) (1) If the employee has demonstrated successful compliance, you must provide a written report directly to the DER highlighting your clinical determination that the employee has done so with your initial evaluation recommendation (see § 40.311(d)).\n(2) You may determine that an employee has successfully demonstrated compliance even though the employee has not yet completed the full regimen of education and/or treatment you recommended or needs additional assistance. For example, if the employee has successfully completed the 30-day in-patient program you prescribed, you may make a “successful compliance” determination even though you conclude that the employee has not yet completed the out-patient counseling you recommended or should continue in an aftercare program.\n(d)(1) As the SAP, if you believe, as a result of the follow-up evaluation, that the employee has not demonstrated successful compliance with your recommendations, you must provide written notice directly to the DER (see § 40.311(e)).\n(2) As an employer who receives the SAP's written notice that the employee has not successfully complied with the SAP's recommendations, you must not return the employee to the performance of safety-sensitive duties.\n(3) As the SAP, you may conduct additional follow-up evaluation(s) if the employer determines that doing so is consistent with the employee's progress as you have reported it and with the employer's policy and/or labor-management agreements.\n(4) As the employer, following a SAP report that the employee has not demonstrated successful compliance, you may take personnel action consistent with your policy and/or labor-management agreements.","path":["Title 49—Transportation","Subtitle A—Office of the Secretary of Transportation","PART 40—PROCEDURES FOR TRANSPORTATION WORKPLACE DRUG AND ALCOHOL TESTING PROGRAMS","Subpart O—Substance Abuse Professionals and the Return-to-Duty Process"],"source_url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2026-08-25/title-49.xml","current_through":"2026-08-25","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T02:26:34Z","sha256":"04dd9b33da80861dfc373184c535f38121de6b6a0f3a5e0a745c23a8396b87de","source_id":"us-cfr","stale":true,"prev":"us/49-cfr-40.299","next":"us/49-cfr-40.303"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}