diff --git a/connect-inject/annotations.go b/connect-inject/annotations.go
index 8158fc6f7f..3bcf4896ca 100644
--- a/connect-inject/annotations.go
+++ b/connect-inject/annotations.go
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 package connectinject
 
 const (
-	// annotationStatus is the key of the annotation that is added to
+	// keyInjectStatus is the key of the annotation that is added to
 	// a pod after an injection is done.
-	annotationStatus = "consul.hashicorp.com/connect-inject-status"
+	keyInjectStatus = "consul.hashicorp.com/connect-inject-status"
 
 	// annotationInject is the key of the annotation that controls whether
 	// injection is explicitly enabled or disabled for a pod. This should
diff --git a/connect-inject/endpoints_controller.go b/connect-inject/endpoints_controller.go
index c3f053cf52..59b20b09e7 100644
--- a/connect-inject/endpoints_controller.go
+++ b/connect-inject/endpoints_controller.go
@@ -607,7 +607,7 @@ func (r EndpointsController) requestsForRunningAgentPods(object client.Object) [
 
 // hasBeenInjected checks the value of the status annotation and returns true if the Pod has been injected.
 func hasBeenInjected(pod corev1.Pod) bool {
-	if anno, ok := pod.Annotations[annotationStatus]; ok {
+	if anno, ok := pod.Annotations[keyInjectStatus]; ok {
 		if anno == injected {
 			return true
 		}
diff --git a/connect-inject/endpoints_controller_test.go b/connect-inject/endpoints_controller_test.go
index 73c2aa02c1..f3bf5cf7c2 100644
--- a/connect-inject/endpoints_controller_test.go
+++ b/connect-inject/endpoints_controller_test.go
@@ -2503,8 +2503,8 @@ func createPod(name, ip string, inject bool) *corev1.Pod {
 		},
 	}
 	if inject {
-		pod.Labels[annotationStatus] = injected
-		pod.Annotations[annotationStatus] = injected
+		pod.Labels[keyInjectStatus] = injected
+		pod.Annotations[keyInjectStatus] = injected
 	}
 	return pod
 }
diff --git a/connect-inject/handler.go b/connect-inject/handler.go
index f82bf5fdae..cc1480f62f 100644
--- a/connect-inject/handler.go
+++ b/connect-inject/handler.go
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ func (h *Handler) Handle(_ context.Context, req admission.Request) admission.Res
 
 	// pod.Annotations has already been initialized by h.defaultAnnotations()
 	// and does not need to be checked for being a nil value.
-	pod.Annotations[annotationStatus] = injected
+	pod.Annotations[keyInjectStatus] = injected
 
 	// Add annotations for metrics.
 	if err = h.prometheusAnnotations(&pod); err != nil {
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ func (h *Handler) Handle(_ context.Context, req admission.Request) admission.Res
 	if pod.Labels == nil {
 		pod.Labels = make(map[string]string)
 	}
-	pod.Labels[annotationStatus] = injected
+	pod.Labels[keyInjectStatus] = injected
 
 	// Consul-ENT only: Add the Consul destination namespace as an annotation to the pod.
 	if h.EnableNamespaces {
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ func (h *Handler) shouldInject(pod corev1.Pod, namespace string) (bool, error) {
 	}
 
 	// If we already injected then don't inject again
-	if pod.Annotations[annotationStatus] != "" {
+	if pod.Annotations[keyInjectStatus] != "" {
 		return false, nil
 	}
 
diff --git a/connect-inject/handler_test.go b/connect-inject/handler_test.go
index 8b104b11aa..b4a181da65 100644
--- a/connect-inject/handler_test.go
+++ b/connect-inject/handler_test.go
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ func TestHandlerHandle(t *testing.T) {
 					Object: encodeRaw(t, &corev1.Pod{
 						ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
 							Annotations: map[string]string{
-								annotationStatus: injected,
+								keyInjectStatus: injected,
 							},
 						},
 						Spec: basicSpec,
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ func TestHandlerHandle(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 				{
 					Operation: "add",
-					Path:      "/metadata/annotations/" + escapeJSONPointer(annotationStatus),
+					Path:      "/metadata/annotations/" + escapeJSONPointer(keyInjectStatus),
 				},
 				{
 					Operation: "add",
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ func TestHandlerHandle(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 				{
 					Operation: "add",
-					Path:      "/metadata/annotations/" + escapeJSONPointer(annotationStatus),
+					Path:      "/metadata/annotations/" + escapeJSONPointer(keyInjectStatus),
 				},
 				{
 					Operation: "add",
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ func TestHandlerHandle(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 				{
 					Operation: "add",
-					Path:      "/metadata/annotations/" + escapeJSONPointer(annotationStatus),
+					Path:      "/metadata/annotations/" + escapeJSONPointer(keyInjectStatus),
 				},
 				{
 					Operation: "add",
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ func TestHandlerHandle(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 				{
 					Operation: "add",
-					Path:      "/metadata/labels/" + escapeJSONPointer(annotationStatus),
+					Path:      "/metadata/labels/" + escapeJSONPointer(keyInjectStatus),
 				},
 			},
 		},
@@ -386,7 +386,7 @@ func TestHandlerHandle(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 				{
 					Operation: "add",
-					Path:      "/metadata/annotations/" + escapeJSONPointer(annotationStatus),
+					Path:      "/metadata/annotations/" + escapeJSONPointer(keyInjectStatus),
 				},
 				{
 					Operation: "add",
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ func TestHandlerHandle(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 				{
 					Operation: "add",
-					Path:      "/metadata/labels/" + escapeJSONPointer(annotationStatus),
+					Path:      "/metadata/labels/" + escapeJSONPointer(keyInjectStatus),
 				},
 			},
 		},