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A Louisiana City Just Made It Legal for Public Workers to Drink and Drive on the Job

If you're employed by Bossier City, you can now legally drink and drive on the job (up to a point).
Image via Lia Kantrowitz

Read: How Much Can You Drink Before It Will Kill You?

When a Bossier City, Louisiana, employee came to work after a night of partying that included crashing a city truck, he probably had no clue he'd end up boldly paving the way for hungover people across town.

According to a local ABC affiliate, the city employee admitted to officials he'd knocked a drink or two back before the crash. But Bossier City Mayor Lo Walker on Tuesday said the worker was a "good employee" and not worth losing over a .02 blood alcohol level (BAC). Instead of firing the guy, Walker simply whipped up a new policy making it legal for city workers to drink on the job—as long as they don't exceed a .04 BAC limit.

The new rule presumably makes it legal for paramedics, cops, and firefighters to guzzle down a cold one before heading to the scene of a crime, or to extinguish a fire. The city previously had a zero-tolerance policy for public workers caught boozing on the job.

Bossier City Council President Don Williams is challenging the new agreement, though, arguing the city should go back to zero tolerance. "This sounds like something that was done in the old days," he said. "Under the table, greasy, not fairly done."

The nature of the work by the city employee in question has yet to be disclosed, but Walker said he'd had the gig for two months.