Metro

Sanitation worker fined $1,500, forced to retire for accepting tip

A 25-year veteran city sanitation worker was forced into retirement and ordered to pay a hefty fine for accepting a measly $20 tip for doing his job.

Lenworth Dixon was working his route on Butler Street in East Elmhurst, Queens, last September when a resident paid him $20 to help collect a large amount of wood, furniture and other trash in front of his home.

But according to the city charter: “No public servant shall receive compensation except from the city for performing any official duty, or accept . . . any gratuity from any person whose interests may be affected by the public servant’s official action.”

City rules don’t distinguish between a bribe and a tip.

Dixon was forced to retire from his $73,534-a-year job immediately and pay a $1,500 fine. His last day was Jan. 16, according to the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board.

Dixon started with Sanitation in April 1988. He couldn’t be reached for comment.

Last June, two other sanitation workers who shared a $10 tip for doing the same thing paid a $2,000 fine levied by the ethics board.