MSD staffer brought bag of fake ‘meth’ to work as drug ‘joke’, scornful workplace culture alleged

The Ministry of Social Development is defending its staff after one worker brought a bag of fake methamphetamine to a work morning tea as a joke. Photo / File

The Ministry of Social Development is defending its staff after an employee took a bag of fake methamphetamine to a work morning tea as a joke.

One former employee said the stunt was indicative of the culture at Work and Income, alleging a widespread disdain for the ministry’s (MSD) clients, including referring to them as “dropkicks” and “junkies”.

The Herald understands an employee brought a Ziploc bag full of white powder labelled as meth to the event at WINZ’s Hornby Service Centre in Christchurch.

MSD Canterbury regional commissioner Blair McKenzie said the morning tea was to celebrate cultural diversity and staff labelled the food items they brought.

“One staff member produced a label intending to be humorous, which caused offence,” McKenzie said.

Photographs of the fake meth next to lollipops were circulated on social media.

“One complaint was made to a senior manager while the morning tea was still underway about some [lollies] that had an inappropriate label,” McKenzie said.

“The senior manager acted ... to have the items removed and made it very clear to the staff member that this was not appropriate,” he said.

“The staff member has apologised to other staff and acknowledged the offence they caused.”

McKenzie said he was satisfied with how the incident was handled.

Meanwhile, a former employee told The Spinoff the incident highlighted a work culture at MSD of scorn towards clients, alleging the worker who brought the fake drug “felt that was cultural to [them]”.

An “us vs them” or “we’re better than the client” mentality was allegedly rife, the former employee told The Spinoff.

“[There’s] very much a cultural acceptance of that. The general regard for our clients is appalling, to be perfectly honest.

“Referring to clients as dropkicks [or] using terms like junkie or dickhead… which is totally unacceptable.”

McKenzie said it was his experience that “staff care about their clients and their whānau and treat them with respect”.

He said: “The people we work with tell us that, and we see that every day in our service centres.

“We have hundreds of staff across the Canterbury region who are passionate about the communities they serve and work hard each day to support them.”

McKenzie said the ministry had since briefed managers on making sure staff acted professionally - “particularly within team events,” he said.

“While this is an isolated incident, we’ve used it as an opportunity to brief managers on making sure ... that staff are reminded of the code of conduct and their obligations to MSD.”