Metro removes contract worker from duty after finding marijuana in backpack

The agency’s largest union has decried its increasing reliance on contractors.

A view of a Metro train on June 20, 2017. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)

Metro removed a contract worker from duty over the weekend after finding marijuana inside the individual’s backpack, the agency confirmed Monday.

The transit agency said it referred a worker to a contractor for disciplinary action after finding an unspecified amount of the drug in the bag. The contractor, whom the agency did not name, was notified and “took appropriate disciplinary action,” Metro spokeswoman Sherri Ly said.

The incident happened Saturday at the Anacostia station, when Metro police were alerted to an unattended backpack in a station kiosk. Police found the marijuana after searching the bag, according to Metro.

Ly said the offense was not a crime because the amount of marijuana discovered was less than the two-ounce maximum allowed under D.C. law.

The worker was reportedly from a janitorial contractor.

Metro’s largest union, which has criticized the agency’s increasing reliance on private contractors, recently authorized a strike — partially on grounds that Metro had outsourced some of its janitorial work in bus garages and rail yards to private contractors. The agency maintains a “drug-free workplace” and has a strict drug and alcohol policy that resulted in the termination of 14 train and bus operators for such violations in 2016, according to NBC Washington.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 pushed for equivalent discipline for private contractors, who have been criticized in recent weeks for violations including cellphone use while operating bus shuttles and conducting rail inspections.

“Whether it’s track, or maintenance, or custodial work — whatever have you — if Metro’s going to be bringing in these contractors, then they should at least be up to the standard of Metro employees,” union spokesman David Stephen said. “They should be subject to the same policy and disciplinary action.”

Ly said that custodial staff escorted the worker off the property Saturday and that the contract employee will not work for Metro again.