§391.21 Application for employment.

Question 1: If a driver submits an application for employment and has someone else type, write, or print the answers to the questions for him and he signs the application, does this constitute a valid application?

Guidance: Yes. The applicant, by signing the application, certifies that all entries on it and information therein are true and complete to the best of the applicant’s knowledge.

Question 2: Is there a prescribed or specified form that must be used when a driver applies for employment, or can a carrier develop its own application?

Guidance: There is no specified form to be used in an application for employment. Carriers may develop their own forms, which may be tailored to their specific needs. The application form must, at the minimum, contain the information specified in §391.21(b).

Question 3: §391.21(b)(11) requires that an application for employment contain 10 years of prior employment information on the driver. If a foreign motor carrier’s home country requires that an application for employment contain only five years of data, will a foreign carrier need to change its application to collect 10 years of data? Will the foreign carrier be required to go back and collect 10 years of data on its current drivers? What will a U.S. motor carrier who employs foreign drivers be required to do in this regard?

Guidance: A foreign motor carrier would not be required to collect 10 years of prior employment information as long as a foreign driver has an appropriate foreign commercial driver’s license, i.e., (1) the Licencia Federal de Conductor (Mexico), or (2) the Canadian National Safety Code commercial driver’s license. A U.S. motor carrier, on the other hand, would be required to collect 10 years of prior employment information when hiring foreign drivers. The carrier should also remember to contact the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service for their regulations and policies with respect to hiring foreign drivers.

*Question 4: Must a driver’s application for employment include a social security number (SSN), as required by section 391.21(b)(2), if the applicant has religious objections to the SSN and the Social Security Administration does not require him or her to hold such a number?

Guidance: No.

*Editor’s Note: This interpretation was issued after the interpretations were published in the Federal Register in April 1997.