Baltimore Public Works Employee Who Allegedly Made Racist, Anti-Semitic Tweets 'No Longer Employed'

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A Baltimore public works department employee who allegedly made numerous racist and anti-Semitic posts on social media is no longer employed by the city, Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming said Thursday.

The inspector generals' office reviewed the employee's Twitter account and found 17 tweets posted in April and May "that could be viewed by a reasonable person as intentionally racist, anti-Semitic or derogatory."

The tweets may have been made while the former employee was on city time, the inspector general's office said in a report.

"Without question, the postings were not representative of all City employees or of the environment of inclusion and respect that are hallmarks of Baltimore City government employment," Cumming said.

Cumming could not confirm the former employee's name but did say they worked for the city for more than 20 years.

The report said the tweets violated a public works department policy that requires employees to "conduct themselves at all times in a manner becoming of a City employee, and shall not bring scandal, expense or annoyance upon the City through ... improper or notorious behavior."

Last month, the Maryland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Baltimore City branch of the NAACP issued a joint statement condemning the tweets and calling for the former employee's resignation.

The city had previously issued a statement saying all employees have their first amendment right to free expression and free speech but that the tweets may have violated employee behavioral standards.

In:
• Baltimore
• Antisemitism
• Baltimore City
• Racism
• Twitter