As part of its drug testing policy, Amazon says it will no longer test its employees for marijuana, with only a few exceptions. According to Amazon, ‘where state laws are moving’ will affect workers in the US. However, the change won’t affect the Transportation Department’s employees. Amazon announced on Tuesday some new policies directed towards its US employees, including that it would average these policies over a more extended period to revert to a correct time off task program. This announcement comes as the company aims to be the “best employer on Earth” and the “safest place to work.”

In its Time off Task policy, the company claims it was primarily created to determine if there was a problem with the tools employees used while claiming that the secondary purpose is to identify underperforming employees. Time off Task has been changed due to criticism from workers who said the policy led to things like skipping bathroom breaks or avoiding first aid due to fear of being disciplined for being off Task too long. In the past week, Amazon was again in the news for some employees’ alleged use of pee bottles.

A recent blog post says Amazon is also revising its policy on drug testing for most United States workers: Any employee not covered by the Department of Transportation will not be subject to a comprehensive drug screening program but will be treated the same as someone who uses alcohol. While the company notes that impairment tests will be performed during the workday and that marijuana and alcohol will be tested after any incidents, the company adds that it may also conduct post-incident checks. The company, however, has not said how it intends to determine whether a worker who has consumed marijuana was at fault for a work-related accident – marijuana is notoriously long-lasting, so a person can test positive for the drug without being impaired.

Photo by Steve Heap / Shutterstock.com