Gross misconduct on the Apprentice?

The very vocal Lee McQueen and the ultra confident 'best salesperson in Europe' Jennifer McGuire took the lead roles in last week's project.

Purchasing a list of specific items at the lowest cost did not sound the hardest of tasks even though the teams would have to haggle with the renowned market traders of Marrakesh.

The shopping list in hand, Jennifer rushed out to get into the market first and did not take time to do any research. Unfortunately, her eagerness backfired when she started making purchases without paying attention to the details in the shopping list. The mistakes led to her team losing by a large margin to the better prepared Lee's team.

In the boardroom it became apparent that the team had committed a catalogue of mistakes (including showing ignorance of Kosher food by asking a Muslim butcher to slaughter and bless a chicken). Notably, it was discovered that one member of the team had acted dishonestly in trying to bribe a shopkeeper to get one over on the other side.

If a candidate fails a task due to poor performance they are obviously at risk of being fired, but if a candidate behaves in a dishonest manner, in this case trying to financially bribe shop assistants to obstruct the other team, they have to be dismissed.

If an employee is dishonest or offers bribes to contacts to make their work look better, it should be regarded as gross misconduct. The trust between the employer and employee is a key part of the working relationship and conduct is always a potentially fair ground for dismissal if the employer follows reasonable procedure.

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