New York sanitation workers fined $2000 and let go for accepting $5 tip

Two longtime New York City sanitation workers were each fined $2,000 for accepting a $10 tip from a local resident.

The Conflict of Interest Board fined Robert Bracone and Rene Torres and then retired them from the job.

According to the workers' statements provided by the conflicts board, The New York Times said the men asked for $20 to share between them.

However, the resident said he had only $10.

Bracone had been a sanitation worker for 26 years and Torres 23 years, the New York Daily News reported.

Citing a website that tracks municipal employee salaries, CBS pointed out that both men earned over $100,000, including overtime, in 2011 as two of New York’s Strongest.

The two admitted to taking the $5 each from a Queens resident on Oct. 12, 2011, after they hauled a large amount of trash away from his building.

They tip violated the rule banning employees from using their positions "to obtain a personal benefit," the Daily News reported.

The paper quoted Bracone as saying:

"I don’t want to have anything to do with the city ever again."

Torres could not be reached, the Daily News said.

Vito Turso, a spokesman for the city Department of Sanitation, told the Daily News:

"They should have known better. It’s clear [from the orders] that they face termination if they are caught."