Every covered employer must name a Designated Employer Representative, and the DER carries real authority: receiving results, removing employees from safety-sensitive duty, ordering tests, deciding whether a refusal occurred, and standing behind the program in an audit. Under 49 CFR 40.3 the DER is an employee of the employer, and the rule says in so many words that service agents cannot act as DERs; 49 CFR 40.355(k) repeats it from the service agent's side. The role carries duties for as long as the program runs. This guide explains what a DER does day to day, what they receive, and how PSI supports the person in the role.
The short version
- The DER receives the MRO's verified result, including which drug a positive was verified for, but not the quantitative values or the employee's medical explanation, which stay with the MRO (49 CFR 40.163)
- The DER removes an employee from safety-sensitive duty when the rule requires it, and may not stand an employee down on a pending laboratory report (49 CFR 40.21)
- The DER must be an employee of the employer. A service agent may perform administrative tasks and relay information the employer elects to receive through it, but may never act as the DER or make testing, removal, or refusal decisions (49 CFR 40.3, 40.345, 40.355)
- A DER support line gives the person in the role someone to call on a hard decision