Two City of Hamilton employees have been fired for allegedly bringing pot brownies to a public works yard in Stoney Creek.
A 20-year old man was taken to the hospital after unknowingly consuming the drug-laced brownies just before heading out for his shift. Hospital officials have not commented on what he was treated for.
Police were called in to investigate the incident but declined to lay any charges against either of the two men. The victim has since made a full recovery and has returned to his normal work duties.
The City of Hamilton has had a number of issues with its employees recently. Employees from the Public Works department made news last year for offenses ranging from time theft to having sex with a prostitute. The city was also harshly criticized in the media for handing out a six-figure severance package to a transit supervisor who, an arbitrator ruled, had sexually harassed a female subordinate.
It seems unlikely that these two blue-collar workers will receive compensation comparable to what that supervisor received. Neither of these cases involved criminal charges being laid.
Councillors and supervisors have stated that the city has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to drugs and to endangering the health of workers.
Politicians say that they are working to change the culture at city hall after a damming report in 2013 found that a quarter of the City’s over 7000 employees have felt pressured to compromise their ethics at some point.
It is not known whether the two employees intend to fight this dismissal.
