diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/worker/CommandUtils.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/worker/CommandUtils.scala
index 12e98fd40d6c..2e9be2a180c6 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/worker/CommandUtils.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/worker/CommandUtils.scala
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.util.Utils
 private[spark]
 object CommandUtils extends Logging {
   def buildCommandSeq(command: Command, memory: Int, sparkHome: String): Seq[String] = {
-    val runner = getEnv("JAVA_HOME", command).map(_ + "/bin/java").getOrElse("java")
+    val runner = sys.env.get("JAVA_HOME").map(_ + "/bin/java").getOrElse("java")
 
     // SPARK-698: do not call the run.cmd script, as process.destroy()
     // fails to kill a process tree on Windows
@@ -38,9 +38,6 @@ object CommandUtils extends Logging {
       command.arguments
   }
 
-  private def getEnv(key: String, command: Command): Option[String] =
-    command.environment.get(key).orElse(Option(System.getenv(key)))
-
   /**
    * Attention: this must always be aligned with the environment variables in the run scripts and
    * the way the JAVA_OPTS are assembled there.