How fast do I have to tell a broker that a driver has left?

Some brokers say at once. Medi Trans' Louisiana handbook says you must notify it immediately when any employee, driver or office, no longer works for your company. MTM tells providers to contact their Vendor Account Manager to take a driver off the company when the driver stops driving for them. Check your agreement for a stated number of days, and where none is given, do it the day the driver leaves.

Is the checklist different when a driver quits?

The steps are the same. What can change is timing. Several states set a later final pay deadline for a quit than for a firing, and the table in the firing guide shows seven side by side. Unemployment notice rules also differ by state, so check yours. Ask for the resignation and the last day in writing so the date on your checklist is the driver's own.

Must I answer when another company asks about a former driver?

If your drivers are covered by the federal safety rules, yes. 49 CFR 391.23(g) requires a previous employer to answer each request for safety performance history within 30 days, even when there is nothing to report, and to keep a record of each request and response for one year. For other drivers no federal rule requires an answer, so set a policy before the first call comes in.

What do I do when the driver was a contractor?

Follow the written agreement for notice and return of equipment, pay the final invoice, and file Form 1099-NEC if you paid the driver at least $2,000 for services during the year, the threshold for tax years after 2025. Still cancel the fuel card and every login, and tell the brokers.

How long do I keep the driver's file after the last day?

For a driver covered by the federal safety rules, 49 CFR 391.51(c) keeps the qualification file until three years after employment ends. For an involuntary termination, the EEOC record rule at 29 CFR 1602.14 sets one year from the termination. Form I-9 is kept for the later of three years from the hire date or one year from the day employment ends, and the clock starts only when the employee leaves.

Should I remove access before the driver leaves the building?

Yes. End access before the driver walks out the door. HIPAA's Security Rule lists termination procedures among its administrative safeguards at 45 CFR 164.308(a)(3)(ii)(C), meaning procedures for ending access to electronic patient information when a workforce member's employment ends. The standard is addressable and sets no hour, so the same day is the sensible line.

NEMT Driver Offboarding Checklist (Printable)

How to use this checklist

Print one copy for each driver who leaves, and fill in the date and initials beside every line as you go. The steps are grouped by when they come due: before the last day, on the last day, in the first week, and after that. The same list works for a resignation, a layoff, and a firing. A few lines change by the kind of departure, and one section below explains how.

For a firing, the reasons, the meeting, and the state deadlines are in how to fire a NEMT driver. This page is the printable list that goes with it, so it points there instead of repeating the state tables.

The checklist

Before the last day

Step	Who	Done
Put the resignation, layoff, or termination notice in the driver file, with the last day	Owner
Move every future trip to other drivers: recurring rides, will-calls, scheduled pickups, and broker trips already accepted	Dispatch
Turn back any trip you cannot cover to its broker by that broker’s deadline	Dispatch
Take the driver off future shifts and vehicle assignments	Dispatch
Print this driver’s property list from the key and fuel card log	Office
Total the final hours, and write down the final pay due date for your state and the reason for leaving	Payroll
Print the unemployment notice your state requires, if it requires one	Office

On the last day, before the driver leaves

Step	Who	Done
Finish the shift, return the van, and complete the post-trip inspection	Driver
Collect the badge, keys, fobs, gate cards, and uniform items	Office
Collect the company phone or tablet, signed out of every app	Office
Cancel the fuel card with the card company	Office
End the driver app login, team chat, email, and shared drive access	Admin
Remove the driver from every broker portal and app the driver used	Admin
Tell each broker the driver has left, the way its manual says to	Owner
Change the gate codes, lockbox codes, and shared passwords the driver knew	Admin
Ask the driver to delete rider details from any personal phone, and write down that you asked	Owner
Hand over the final check if your state makes it due today	Payroll
Hand over the unemployment notice, tell the driver in writing the day health coverage ends, and say when the W-2 will arrive	Owner

In the first week

Step	Who	Done
Let any facility that phoned this driver know that requests go to dispatch now	Dispatch
Mark the driver inactive on the driver and vehicle roster	Office
Approve the final timecard and pay any expense reimbursements	Payroll
Pay the final check by the state deadline, if it was not due on the last day	Payroll
Tell your insurance agent, if your policy lists drivers by name	Owner
Remove the driver from any driving record monitoring service	Office

After the first week

Step	Who	Done
Answer requests for the driver’s safety history, within 30 days where the federal safety rules apply	Owner
Move the driver file to storage and mark its destruction date	Office
Write the Form I-9 retention date on the file	Office
Contractor drivers only: pay the final invoice and note the 1099-NEC	Owner

Which brokers need to hear, and how fast?

Tell every broker the day the driver leaves. Medi Trans’ Louisiana handbook, posted on the state health department’s site in April 2025, names a timing: if any employee no longer works for your company, driver or office, or a vehicle is no longer in use, you must notify it immediately. MTM’s portal guidance names a step: when a driver no longer drives for a provider, the provider contacts its Vendor Account Manager to remove the driver from the company.

A roster is how a broker knows which drivers you have put forward. MTM Health’s Virginia handbook collects a driver roster with each driver’s license expiration, training dates, and background check dates, and says that letting those records go stale leads to lower trip volume, a performance improvement plan, unpaid trips run by drivers whose documents lapsed or who were never approved, or a contract that is not renewed. Your agreement may set a number of days that the manual leaves out, so read both.

Before the last day, check each broker’s turnback rule. MTM Health in Virginia expects a provider to turn back trips it cannot cover at least 24 hours before pickup, so a driver’s accepted trips need a new home ahead of the final shift, not on it.

What changes when the driver quits, was laid off, or is a contractor?

Only a few lines move. The rest of the list stays as it is.

A resignation. Ask for the resignation and the last day in writing. The final pay deadline can be later than for a firing, and the firing guide shows seven states with both.
A removal for safety or conduct. The driver comes off the road the same day, and the ride-reassignment lines move to that day. The reasons and the meeting are covered in the firing guide and the discipline guide.
A contractor. There is no final paycheck. Pay the final invoice, collect what the agreement says comes back, and issue a 1099-NEC if you paid at least $2,000 for services in the year. The IRS instructions set that figure for tax years after 2025.

For any final wages, the Labor Department says federal law does not require the last paycheck at once, some states do, and an employee whose regular payday for the final period has passed unpaid can contact the Wage and Hour Division or the state labor department. Your state’s date goes on the checklist before the last day.

When another company calls about the driver

For drivers covered by the federal safety rules, answering is a duty. Under 49 CFR 391.23(g), a previous employer must respond to each request for the driver’s safety performance history within 30 days of receiving it, and must send a response even when there is nothing to report, confirming the driver’s identity and dates of employment. The previous employer keeps a record of each request and response for one year, with the date, the party the information went to, and a summary of what was given.

For other drivers, no federal rule requires an answer. Decide before the first call who responds, what they say, and what stays in the file. The reason you give should match the one the driver and the state unemployment agency received, which the guide to unemployment claims explains.

How long to keep the file

Each part of the file has its own clock. The qualification file for a driver under the federal safety rules runs three years from the last day (49 CFR 391.51(c)). Personnel records of an involuntary termination run one year from the termination (29 CFR 1602.14). Form I-9 runs to the later of three years from the hire date or one year from the last day, and USCIS says to work out that date only once the employee stops working for you. Write each destruction date on the folder, and use the employee record retention guide for payroll, drug test, and exposure records.

Access to rider information ends the same day as everything else. HIPAA’s Security Rule includes termination procedures among its administrative safeguards (45 CFR 164.308(a)(3)(ii)(C)), and the guide to setting user roles shows the full access list.

Moving the driver’s trips in HealthRide

On HealthRide’s dispatch board, each of the departing driver’s upcoming trips can move to another driver in one motion, and Ryder Go plans the whole day in one click. The hours the driver recorded in the driver app appear in the timecard reports, so the hours for the final period come from the same records.

NEMT driver offboarding checklist: keys, app access, broker rosters, and final pay