Amazons Drug Testing Policy
With over 798,000 employees, Amazon certainly has a lot of pot smokers on staff. As an organization, Amazon is also pro-pot and has been pushing for federal legalization for years. As of June 2021, Amazon announced that they would no longer screen applicants for marijuana as a prerequisite for any position.
This doesnt mean that employees can be impaired on the job, simply that marijuana use outside of work is no longer an issue for anyone looking to work at Amazon. However, reasonable suspicion on the job can still warrant a drug test.
When Do Amazon Drug Test
Amazon basically seems to drug test at two times:
So basically, you go along and have your initial interview. If they decide you are suitable to be a store person who can wander around a warehouse picking things off the shelf, while your handset endlessly beeps at you, then they will tell you that you passed the interview process, and will then do background checks on you.
If the background checks come back okay, the third and final part of the recruitment process is for you to submit a sample. You will either be sent somewhere to do this, or somebody will come in to do it on behalf Amazon.
This appears to happen the day after the background checks come back, so you will get 24 hours notice, although I have read articles online suggesting they dont actually say a word until you are handed a cup.
From evidence I have read online, both in the USA, and the UK, groups of people will just go into a toilet, pee into a sample cup, and then hand it over to the lab representative who will go through the testing process.
Understanding Amazon Drug Test Procedures
Although Amazon no longer tests most employees for marijuana, the company continues to use a comprehensive drug screening program to monitor new and existing employees for signs of substance abuse, including opioids like heroin, oxycodone, and morphine.
The companys recently adjusted its drug policy in which marijuana use, for the most part, is not tested for applies to Amazons field operations teams based in the United States. Some select positions, however, are not included in the policy change.
Amazon employees holding jobs that are regulated by the United States Department of Transportation, including delivery truck drivers and operators of heavy machinery, are still subject to marijuana drug testing as per federal law.
As one of the most recognized global brands, Amazon continues to hold its employees to high standards. As such, comprehensive drug testing, including marijuana and alcohol screenings, may also be implemented after incidents or to monitor for on-the-job impairment.
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Can You Be Drug Tested During The Amazon Orientation Period
Orientation is the period when you have to learn your responsibilities for the position you have taken. And no, the company does not conduct a drug test during the orientation period, because you have already passed the drug test as the final step of the application proccess.
You will simply be trained in security policy, your professional responsibilities and other things related to your job at Amazon.
Sodoes Amazon Drug Test
Yes.
You can expect a mouth swab as part of the hiring process or during a random drug test after your employment has started.
Amazon has their drug tests sent to Quest Diagnostics.
Amazon tests for opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, and PCP to name a few.
Butin the vast majority of cases, Amazon NO LONGER tests for marijuanamore on that below.
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Who Will Be Tested And Why
The employer may choose to perform a drug test for assessing an employee for reasons that may include pre-employment, random drug testing, follow-up testing, and post-incident testing.
Federal law requires testing by employers in safety-sensitive industries such as transportation, aviation, the Department of Defense, and others. As such, all Amazon warehouse workers have to pass a pre-employment drug test as part of the company’s hiring process. Amazon might conduct a standard 5 panel drug test for screening their employees. It may differ based on the need and circumstances.
Amazons corporate employees, on the other hand, are not subjected to pre-employment drug testing. However, the company may perform a drug or alcohol screening if it believes it has reasonable grounds to support that an employee is under the influence of alcohol or illicit substances.
Amazon Is Dropping Barriers For New Employees
That demand for labor may be encouraging Amazon to drop its barriers for prospective employees. Most Americans now or soon will have legal access to marijuana. To date, 37 states have legalized medical marijuana, while 16 states and Washington DC have legalized recreational marijuana for adults over age 21. A Gallup survey last year found that a record-high 68% of Americans supported legalizing marijuana.
Company drug testing of employees was popular in the 90s, but has declined over the years, in part because theres little evidence it deters drug use.
While cannabis is not legal on the federal level, Amazon is pushing for federal legalization of weed in the blog post, Amazon said its public policy team will support the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 , which aims to legalize marijuana at the federal level and clear prior convictions, as well as tax cannabis products at 5% to fund criminal and social reform projects.
Along with taking a broader approach to hiring, the blog postwritten by Amazons consumer bossraises the question of whether the company is looking to get into the weed delivery business. The delivery of just about everything has become mainstream due in part to the pandemic, so cannabis may become just one more consumer product for sale on Amazon. Just a couple of months ago, Uber said it wants to get into cannabis delivery, once federal regulation is passed.
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Is It Legal To Watch Someone Pee For A Drug Test
It is not illegal to watch someone pee for a drug test. Ensuring that the samples are coming out of your body is mandatory.
This is to ensure that the sample corrected is the right one.
There are fake penises that can be put over the real penis and appear as if you are urinating from the real sample.
Watching someone pee prevents them from doctoring the samples.
Update On Our Vision To Be Earths Best Employer And Earths Safest Place To Work
A message to U.S. Operations employees from Dave Clark, CEO, Worldwide Consumer.
In April, Jeff shared our vision to become Earths Best Employer and Earths Safest Place to Work. Today, I want to share two substantial changes for our U.S. field operations teams that were making on our path to achieving this long-term vision.
Teams across Amazon have been working hard for many years to create a world-class workplace, and weve made significant progress. LinkedIn named Amazon the #1 most sought-after workplace in both 2018 and 2021, and #2 in 2019 . Forbes listed Amazon as the #2 workplace in the world in 2020. Perhaps most importantly, employees using Glassdoor give Amazon a nearly 4-star rating, and when we recently surveyed employees across our fulfillment network, 94% said that they would recommend Amazon as a place to work to family and friends.
The first update I want to give you today is to a policy called Time off Task. If youre not familiar with it, this policy is a way to measure the amount of time employees are logged on to the software tools in their work area, and its something thats been in place in one form or another since our earliest days. Its also similar to policies that youd find at many logistics and manufacturing facilities.
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Can I Refuse A Drug Test At Amazon
New applicants at Amazon can refuse a drug test, but will likely forfeit their offer of employment or current employment with that company.
Employees who do not complete the drug testing procedure will be terminated immediately.
Drug use by employees does not go unpunished at Amazon they may terminate you if you fail or refuse a post-incident drug test.
How Does Amazons Mouth Swab Drug Test Work
Once youve decided to apply for a job with Amazon, youll need to accept the fact that youre going to be asked to take a drug test. In general, youll need to take and pass an oral drug test before you can begin working for Amazon.
If youve been working for several years, youve likely taken one of these drug tests but some people have never worked before. If you fit into the latter category, youre likely interested in learning how the drug test works. What must do you?
Ultimately, the mouth swab drug test used by Amazon is quick and easy. A human resources official with Amazon will walk you through the process and give you a mouth swab that looks like a q-tip. Youll need to take the swab, place it in your mouth, and collect saliva. Once youve finished, the saliva sample will be placed in a bottle and secured.
The sample will be transported to a drug testing lab and youll need to wait patiently for the results.
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Does Amazon Drug Test At Orientation
No. Amazon does not drug test at orientation. Typically, if you’re part of the orientation group, you have been accepted to work at Amazon full-time. Amazon conducts pre-employment testing. And avoids testing for cannabis use. If you’re attending orientation, you already have employment with Amazon.
Hiring And Drug Testing Procedures
Amazon has three stages to their hiring process. Once you pass these requirements, theyll set you up for an orientation and some team building activities during training.
- First, an operations manager will give you the initial interview to ask you questions and give you some basic salary information.
- Next, Amazon will ask more questions about your previous work experience and which roles you could fulfill as part of their background check.
- Finally, youll be asked to do a mouth swab test as the final step to the application.
If youre attending a hiring event, Amazon will use mouth swab drug tests on the spot for potential warehouse associates. After sending your saliva sample to the lab, theyll get back to you within two weeks to a month to reply with a decision.
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What To Expect During Amazon Hiring Process
The hiring process at Amazon isnt a complicated one. To get started, you should fill a job application on their website. Youll be able to browse the jobs you like and apply online. After you fill out a job application, theyll get in touch to let you know about their next hiring event. While filling the application youll be able to choose your shifts and youll get two days off per week.
You should go to the hiring event where youll go through an interview. Applicants will also need to pass background and drug tests. I found through my research that drug tests at Amazon are valid for 4 months. So, if you take a drug test but dont start working within 4 months, youll need to retake it.
Is There A Drug Test At Amazon Orientation
You wont have to worry about being drug tested at orientation, fortunately. Once youve passed the necessary drug test, Amazon will invite you to their orientation.
Safety training and a plant tour are included in the companys orientation. As a result, they must trust you, which they will not do if you have failed a drug test.
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Cheating Amazons Drug Test
Have you thought about bending the rules and attempting to cheat Amazons drug test? Although it may seem like a good idea, it isnt. The truth of the matter is that attempting to cheat a drug could lead to bigger problems in the near future.
You might get by with it the first or second time, but youll likely get caught at some point. When that happens, youre going to wish you hadnt made this decision. Cheating on a drug test is illegal and you could face severe consequences when youre caught. Alternatively, you may not experience any issues.
It depends on the company in question. Amazon may not report it to the authorities, but they could. If they do, you may be facing a trial and potential jail time. With that being said, it is best to stay clean so you can pass Amazons drug test. Attempting to cheat on the test will only hurt you in the long run.
Summary
At the end of the day, Amazon workers are going to be drug tested at some point. First and foremost, youll need to pass a drug test before you can get the job. Then, there is a chance that youll be randomly drug tested in the near future.
Since you never know when youre going to get randomly tested, it is pertinent to refrain from drug abuse. Otherwise, you might get busted and you could lose your job.
Who Does Amazon Test
Essentially, employers decide to carry out a drug test to assess their employees for a number of reasons. The tests can be done post-incident, pre-employment, as a follow-up, or even be random. Federal Law requires that all employers in safety-sensitive departments and industries like aviation, transportation, and others perform a drug test of all their employees. Amazon has a very elaborate and strict policy when it comes to drug testing its employees. The company requires all job applicants to pass a pre-employment drug test during the recruitment process. Depending on the need and circumstances, Amazon may sometimes perform a standard 5-panel drug test to screen prospective employees. In contrast, Amazons top-management employees are not required to undergo pre-employment drug tests. However, the company may be forced to perform an alcohol or drug screening test if it reasonably believes that one of its corporate employees is under the influence of illicit substances.
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What Kind Of Drug Test Does Amazon Do 202: Pre
Current Amazon employees report that they had to pass a pre-employment drug test before their applications were considered.
One of the most often used pre-employment drug tests in the United States is a mouth swab test, preceded by a urine drug test.
A mouth swab drug test indicates alcohol and drugs within a certain amount of time after theyve been used. Illicit substances, for example, are identified within 24 to 48 hours of their previous usage.
If Amazon detects illegal substances or alcohol in your saliva, you will be given the option to clear your results. Its important to realize that a failed drug test may not automatically exclude you from working at Amazon.
There are few instances where Amazon employees can take prescribed medications while on the job. One scenario that comes to mind is when a licensed medical expert prescribes the listed medications.
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Will Amazon Drug Test For Weed
In answering the question: does Amazon drug test for weed, you need to understand a bit about drug testing generally.
Whether its a urine test or mouth swab test that you will be subjected to, it will be tested by what is known as a panel drug test kit.
Basically, a company will pay for a sample to be tested against a number of substances, each one called a panel.
So if its a five panel test, it means that Amazon had paid to check for five drugs, or more accurately drug metabolites.
The problem with wondering if Amazon does drug test for weed, is that the metabolites created by THC, the ingredient in cannabis that gets you high, can stay in your bloodstream for a week, and amongst heavy smokers two weeks or more.
So although you will be tested in the same way for any drug metabolite, whats important is not that they test for weed, its knowing how long the drug you have taken can be detectable, basically how long it remains in the body before it is flushed out of your body.
Which basically means that it doesnt matter what type of drug you have taken, if it still in your body and Amazons drug test checks for it then you are going to be found out.
With weed, its the duration which is the concern, even if you havent smoked for a couple of weeks, you could still be caught out, and lets face it thats pretty harsh if you are going to lose your job and you havent been high for two weeks.
Thats why generally why I find drug testing so utterly socially offensive.
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Can You Fail Amazons Drug Test If You Take Prescription Medication
Some prescription medications can interfere with the results of your drug screening. Drug tests are more refined and well-targeted than they used to be, but prescription drugs can still trigger a false positive.
When you go for a drug test screening, the person performing the test may ask you if you take any prescription medications and record which ones you take, so they can be taken into account.
If you test positive for any of the substances on the drug panel, the testing lab will contact you and ask you to provide proof of your prescription. You can give them a copy of your prescription, and a photo of your prescription bottle label, or you can give permission for them to contact your doctor.
As long as you tell them about all the medications that you need to take and can provide the required proof, you do not need to worry about failing your Amazon drug test because of prescription drugs.
But, if you take prescription medication and cant provide proof, then you will fail the drug screening.
This is a situation you could face if you dont have health insurance and youve had to rely on other sources for your medication.
If this situation applies to you, the best thing to do is stop the medication for a few days prior to your drug test, or find a way to afford a legitimate prescription.
Once you pass the drug screening and get hired, Amazon will give you health insurance, and you wont face difficulty affording your prescription in the future.