As you know as a holder of a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) you have stricter standards regarding violations of the law and including being charged with failure to submit to a chemical test.

The New York State CDL manual should give you information on how this charge will affect your CDL. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) can also give you information. The FMCSA site gives information on the alcohol and drug testing rules for persons with a commercial driver's license. Here it says that refusing to submit to an alcohol test or using alcohol within eight hours after an accident or until tested (for drivers required to be tested) is prohibited of a CDL holder.

From what we have read it is federally mandated that certain penalties are handed down to CDL holders who have certain violations on their motor vehicle record (MVR). Commercial driving privileges shall be revoked for a minimum one-year if the CDL holder commits a major traffic offense (MTO), including any of the following violations:

• Refusal to submit to a chemical test while operating any motor vehicle, personal or commercial;
• Conviction for leaving the scene of either a property damage or personal injury accident without reporting, while operating any motor vehicle, personal or commercial;
• Conviction for an alcohol or a driving while impaired by drugs (DWAID) offense while operating any motor vehicle, personal or commercial;
• Conviction for a felony committed within or outside of NYS involving the use of any motor vehicle, personal or commercial; or
• Conviction for operating a Commercial Motor Vehicle while his or her CDL was revoked, suspended, or canceled for prior violations, or if disqualified from operating a CMV, or conviction for causing a fatality through negligent operation of a CMV, including but not limited to, crimes of vehicular manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide.

Commercial driving privileges will be permanently revoked if the CDL holder commits one of the MTOs listed above and the CDL holder has previously:

• Refused a chemical test while operating any motor vehicle, personal or commercial, or;
• Was convicted for an MTO while operating any motor vehicle, personal or commercial; or,
• Was convicted of leaving the scene of either a property damage or personal injury accident without reporting;
• Been convicted of an alcohol related operating offense;
• Been convicted of committing a felony involving the use of any motor vehicle; or
• Operated a CMV while CDL was revoked, suspended, or canceled for prior violations, or if disqualified from operating a CMV or if convicted for causing a fatality through negligent operation of a CMV, including but not limited to, crimes of vehicular manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide.

The NYS CDL manual, available online at the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles site, also notes that a first offense of refusing to undergo blood alcohol testing results in the loss of your commercial driver's license for at least 1 year. So it would appear that you should have lost your CDL for 1 year after being charged with the refusal to submit to the chemical test.

Whether this violation remaining on your NYS driving record, even after you may have taken care of the issue and finished any penalties given to, will affect an employer's ability to put you on their insurance is up to the guidelines of the insurance company. Any alcohol or drug related offense is taken seriously so your employer may have to use an insurer that allows what they see as a high risk driver on the policy.