Conditional job offer letter for a NEMT driver: the checks that still have to clear

How to use this letter

Send this letter once you have decided to hire the person and before you order anything that depends on the offer: the criminal search, the driving record, the drug test, and any physical. Its job is to make the offer real, state the terms, and list every check still to clear, so nobody has to guess at the start date. Whether a new driver may train while the checks run is covered in starting before the background check clears, so this page gives only the letter.

An offer is real when you have looked at everything non-medical that you could reasonably have looked at before making it. That is the test in the EEOC’s preemployment guidance, and it is the reason to finish the interview and any reference calls the applicant agreed to first. Then send the letter, then run the checks.

Three things stay out of the letter. The background check disclosure and authorization goes on its own stand-alone page. Medical results never appear in it. And it asks no criminal history question; where a fair chance law applies, that inquiry waits until after the offer is made. Once the offer is accepted, the new driver onboarding checklist takes over.

The letter

Replace each bracket with your own entry and delete any line that does not fit. Keep the numbered list to the checks you will really run, in the order you will start them.

[Company name] [Date]

[Applicant name] [Address]

Conditional offer: [wheelchair van driver / stretcher crew driver / ambulatory driver]

Dear [name],

We would like to offer you the job of [title] at [company]. The offer depends on the checks listed below. Please read it, and call [name] at [phone] with any question.

The job. You would report to [supervisor] and drive [wheelchair vans / stretcher vans / sedans] in [county or region]. Your usual schedule is [days and hours]. Some dialysis and clinic runs start as early as [time].

Pay. [$__ per hour], paid [weekly / every two weeks] on [day]. Overtime for hours over [40] in a workweek is paid at [rate]. Orientation and training before your first rider trip are paid at [the same rate].

Start date. Your first paid day is planned for [date]. It moves if a check takes longer, and we will tell you the new date as soon as we know it.

What has to clear first. This offer depends on every item below. We will start each one once you accept and tell you where each stands.

1. Your driving record, from [every state that licensed you in the past [3] years], meeting the standard on the attached sheet.
2. A background check through [screening company]. You will sign a separate disclosure and authorization before we order it.
3. Exclusion checks against the federal OIG and SAM lists and the [state] Medicaid list.
4. A [10-panel] drug test at [clinic] within [48 hours] of accepting. Every driver offered this job takes the same test.
5. [A physical exam / a lifting test] at [clinic], paid for by us. Every driver we hire for this job takes the same one.
6. Approval of you as a driver by our insurer, [name].
7. Credentialing by each payer we drive for, [broker and plan names]. You will not drive for a payer until that payer has cleared you.
8. Form I-9. You complete Section 1 by your first day and show us your documents within three business days after you start.
9. [CPR and first aid, passenger assistance, and defensive driving certificates by [date]. If you do not have them, we will schedule and pay for the classes.]

If a result concerns us. We will tell you what it is before we decide anything. [If it comes from a report, we will send you a copy and give you at least [five] business days to respond or correct it.]

At will. This letter does not promise a job for any set period. Either of us may end the employment at any time, for any lawful reason or none. [Montana only: Your probationary period is [__] months from your first paid day.]

Pay notice. We have enclosed the notice of pay that [state] requires. Please sign and return it with this letter.

Accepting. Please sign and return this letter by [date]. After that date the offer ends.

Sincerely, [Name, title, phone, email]

I accept this conditional offer. Signature: ______________ Date: __________

Conditions tracker for the driver file

Keep this one-page tracker with the signed letter. Fill in a date for each step, and for any medical item write only “cleared” or “not cleared”; the result itself belongs in the separate confidential medical file.

The signed letter and the tracker belong with the application. Under the EEOC’s recordkeeping rule, hiring records stay for a year, counted from the later of the record’s date and the personnel action (29 CFR 1602.14). A driver you hire needs a file that lasts longer, as the driver file checklist shows.

What each condition rests on

Each line of the list has a rule or a contract behind it. The notes below say what that rule asks of the wording in the letter.

• Driving record. In New York City, an employer with four or more employees may not review a driving abstract until after a conditional offer, because criminal and non-criminal entries on an abstract are often hard to separate. Before the offer, the city’s guidance lets you ask only whether the applicant has or can obtain the license the job needs. The standard on the attached sheet should be one you wrote down in advance, such as the limits on the yearly driving record review form.
• Criminal background. California applies its Fair Chance Act to employers with five or more employees: no conviction questions or background check until a job offer, and an individualized assessment before the offer is taken back. The employer then sends a written notice that lists the convictions, attaches the report, and says the driver may respond, with at least five business days from receipt, and more time if the driver disputes the report’s accuracy. New York City asks for a written copy of the inquiry and the employer’s analysis, and at least five business days to respond. The “If a result concerns us” paragraph is where the letter makes that promise. Washington and Illinois set their own timing for the question, as the application form notes, and the criminal record guide covers what each program disqualifies.
• Exclusion checks. Modivcare tells out-of-network providers to confirm that each driver is not excluded upon hire or assignment and monthly after that, so the first search belongs before the start date.
• Drug test. The ADA treats a test for current illegal drug use as outside its medical exam rules, so it may be given at any stage. An alcohol test counts as a medical exam and may not be given until the offer. Minnesota goes further and allows applicant testing only after a job offer, only under a written policy, with the same test for all applicants conditionally offered that position, and a statement of the reason if the offer is withdrawn.
• Physical or lifting test. After the offer and before duties begin, an employer may require a medical exam if all entering employees in the same job category take it (29 CFR 1630.14(b)). The ADA’s definition of employer starts at 15 employees (29 CFR 1630.2(e)). The results go in a separate confidential file. The physical exam guide covers what to send the clinic.
• Insurer and payer approval. MTM’s provider agreement, in the January 2023 version that Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services posts, says that, except for on-demand transportation network companies, no driver may perform services until fully credentialed. Name each payer in item 7 so the driver knows approval comes one payer at a time. How insurers decide is in insurance approval for drivers.
• Form I-9. Section 1 is the employee’s part, and USCIS says to hand it over only after the offer is accepted. It is due by the first day of work. Section 2 is yours, due within three business days after work begins. The letter lists both so the driver knows to bring documents.
• At will. Montana changes the default once probation ends, so a Montana letter names its probationary period. The probationary period guide has the details.
• Paid training. Required classes about the driver’s own job count as working time under 29 CFR 785.27 and 785.29, which is why the letter says orientation is paid.

The pay notice some states want at hire

Two states show how a hire notice works, and the letter should enclose yours rather than try to fold it in. Both are examples; look up your own state’s labor department page for a notice due at hire.

• New York. Labor Law 195(1) requires a written notice when the person is hired. It goes out in English and in the employee’s primary language where the state labor department offers a template in it (it lists six). The employee signs and dates an acknowledgment, and the employer keeps it for six years. The notice gives the pay rate and its basis, the regular payday, the employer’s name and any trade names, its physical address, and its phone number. For non-exempt employees it states the regular hourly rate and the overtime rate.
• California. Labor Code 2810.5 requires a notice, for employees who are not exempt from overtime, at the time of hiring and no later than the first workday. It states the pay rates including overtime, the payday, the employer’s name, address and phone, and the name, address and phone of the workers’ compensation carrier. The DLSE says it must be on its own form, the employee’s signature is optional, and if the employee declines to sign, the employer notes the refusal on its copy. A later change in the information goes to the employee in writing within seven calendar days, unless it appears on a timely wage statement.

Once the conditions clear

Every cleared condition leaves a date that will come due again: the license expiration, the CPR card, the passenger assistance certificate, the yearly driving record. Enter them with the new driver’s other credentials in HealthRide’s fleet records, and reminders go out before each one passes. Dispatch sees a flag when someone assigns a trip to a driver whose credential has expired.