Does Amazon hire people with felonies?

What Amazon has said

Amazon hasn't published a company-wide second-chance or fair-chance hiring policy that we could find. Its candidate privacy notice says it collects background check information and runs background checks and screening during recruiting, and its hiring guide says new warehouse hires must pass required screenings. In 2021 Amazon said it stopped including marijuana in its pre-employment drug screening for jobs not regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation. At least one Amazon posting says the company considers applicants with arrest and conviction records under the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance.

• Fair-chance statement in a job posting

  One hourly fulfillment-center posting (Interim Loss Prevention, Rancho Cordova, CA) says Amazon will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records under the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, and that criminal history may relate to some duties of that role.¹

• Drug testing policy change

  In June 2021 Amazon said it would no longer include marijuana in its pre-employment drug screening for positions not regulated by the Department of Transportation, while keeping on-the-job impairment checks and post-incident testing.²

• State settlement

  On December 3, 2024, California's Civil Rights Department announced that Amazon had settled an individual complaint under the state Fair Chance Act. According to the department, the complaint alleged Amazon denied a Bay Area applicant the opportunity to work as a delivery driver over a conviction more than seven years old. The department said each settling company would pay the complainant and take corrective action; it didn't say which steps applied to Amazon.³

Does Amazon do background checks?

Amazon runs background checks. Amazon's candidate privacy notice lists background check information as data it collects and says it uses it to conduct background checks and screening during recruiting. Its warehouse hiring guide says hiring is complete once required screenings are passed, but doesn't say when the check runs relative to an offer or what it covers in detail.^1,4,5

• Criminal history

• How long a background check takes

Does Amazon drug test?

Amazon drug tests for some roles. Amazon says it runs a pre-employment drug screening program. Since 2021 it says marijuana is excluded from that screening for positions not regulated by the Department of Transportation, and it still follows DOT testing rules for regulated roles. Amazon hasn't published which non-DOT positions are screened.^2,6

Rules for specific jobs

• Warehouse / fulfillment and other hourly operations jobs (hiring.amazon.com)

  Amazon's hiring guide says applicants complete required screenings after the hiring event and are hired once they pass. Amazon doesn't publish what disqualifies an applicant.⁵

• Corporate and salaried jobs (amazon.jobs)

  Amazon's global candidate privacy notice, which covers amazon.jobs applicants, says background checks and screening are part of recruiting. We found no separate published criminal-history policy for corporate roles.⁴

• Amazon DSP delivery drivers (blue-vest van drivers)

  Amazon says DSP drivers are employed by independent Delivery Service Partner companies, not by Amazon. Those companies hire their own drivers, so their screening rules may differ from Amazon's.⁷

• Amazon DSP delivery drivers (who does the hiring)

  Amazon describes DSPs as independent businesses that hire and manage their own employees and set their own pay.⁸

• Amazon Flex delivery (see the separate Amazon Flex page)

  Amazon Flex is independent-contractor delivery work, not Amazon employment, and Amazon lists 21 as the minimum age. Its screening is covered on our separate Amazon Flex page.⁹

Your rights, and how far back a check can go

• Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), an employer must get your written permission before it gets a background report about you from a background screening company.^10,11,12
• Before an employer decides not to hire, keep, or promote you because of something in a background report, it must give you a copy of the report and a document called "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act."^10,11
• You have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in your background report directly with the company that made it.^10,13
• The FCRA's seven-year limit does not apply to criminal convictions, so under federal law a conviction can show up on a background report no matter how old it is.^14,15
• Under the FCRA, background and credit reports generally cannot include arrest records, civil lawsuits, or civil judgments that are more than seven years old (or older than the statute of limitations, if that is longer).^14,16

Your full background check rights

Before you apply

• You can ask a background screening company for the information it has on you, and the CFPB keeps a list of consumer reporting companies, including employment screening companies, with their contact details.^10,13,17
• According to the Clean Slate Initiative, 14 states and Washington, D.C. have passed Clean Slate laws that meet its criteria for automatically clearing eligible records: Pennsylvania, Utah, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, Delaware, Virginia, California, Oklahoma, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Illinois, and Missouri, plus D.C.¹⁸
• The Federal Bonding Program, run by the U.S. Department of Labor, lets states give employers free fidelity bonds that protect them against losses from a newly hired worker's dishonest acts, for job seekers with past justice involvement or in recovery from substance use.^19,20

See whether you can clear your record in your state