The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has denied two recent groups of applications from commercial drivers seeking exemptions to federal medical rules related to epilepsy, marking a notable shift after nearly two years during which the agency had largely approved both new requests and renewals.
A review of Federal Register notices from 2024 through the present shows that the last denial before the recent decisions occurred in September 2024. The agency has historically approved exemption requests, making the recent rejections notable.
The first and largest denial came on June 23, when FMCSA rejected exemption applications from 52 individuals. The original request had been published in the Federal Register in December 2025 to allow for public comments, but the agency reported that no comments were submitted during the consultation period.
As with previous decisions, FMCSA cited the federal medical qualification standard stating that commercial drivers must have no established medical history or clinical diagnosis of epilepsy or any other condition likely to cause a loss of consciousness or the inability to safely control a commercial motor vehicle.
The agency said it carried out an individual review of each applicant’s medical records and personal history before reaching its decision.
Following those assessments, FMCSA concluded that the applicants did not satisfy the eligibility requirements or meet the conditions necessary to qualify for an exemption. According to the agency, granting the requests would not provide a level of safety equivalent to or greater than that required under federal law.
Although the 52 applications were processed together, the applicants came from a wide range of U.S. states rather than a single geographic area.
A second round of denials followed on July 17, when FMCSA rejected exemption requests from 18 additional applicants. The agency, for applicants 16 and 21, respectively, used almost identical language to explain its decision, restating the June 23 notice and similar denials in June and September 2024.
Despite these recent rejections, the agency approved 63 epilepsy exemption applications on June 18, just five days before denying the larger group of 52 applicants. The close timing of those decisions suggests there is no clear evidence that FMCSA has adopted a broader policy change.
In its approval notice, FMCSA stated that it had determined the successful applicants were likely to achieve a level of safety equal to or greater than compliance with the existing federal medical standards.
The agency also said it believed those drivers had demonstrated they were unlikely to experience a seizure and that their medical conditions did not present an unacceptable risk to public safety while operating commercial motor vehicles.
FreightWaves contacted FMCSA’s press office and Larry Minor, the agency’s Associate Administrator for Policy, to determine whether the recent denials reflected a change in policy. No response had been received at the time of publication.
