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Do you have to report a DUI to your boss if you have a CDL?

As a professional driver, reporting certain convictions to your current employer is an obligation that comes along with your CDL privileges. Federal law requires you to report DUI or other moving violation convictions to your employer within 30 days. As for arrests, that could depend on your circumstances. 

As explained on FindLaw, DUI convictions and impairment charges have the potential to negatively affect your career. This is true of both your current employment and any future jobs for which you may apply — especially driving jobs. 

In most cases, it is not your employer’s business if you get arrested. However, you should probably make sure that you did not sign a contract that says otherwise. You should also confirm that the law does not require you to report such events. 

Arrests could pose other issues for you, insofar as they could come up during the hiring process. Depending on the type of driving positions you pursue, the jurisdictions in which you pursue them and on a variety of other factors, it may or may not be legal for your potential employers to ask about or make decisions based on your arrest and conviction history. 

Furthermore, there are limits as to how long a DUI charge or conviction could stay on your permanent record for background checks. For arrests, the limit is typically seven years. For convictions, the mark could be permanent. 

There are many things that could change the way you search for jobs, your prospects and other aspects of making a living when it comes to DUI. One of the important things to remember is that, while many consequences are over the long term, laws also tend to change. Putting yourself in the best possible starting position often requires both an understanding of current laws and a perspective on how the rules have changed in the past — and how they may change in the future.