Apprentice winner Stella English in court against Sugar
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:16 am
It may provide weeks of prime-time television coverage and the promise of a £100,000 salary, but a winner of BBC’s The Apprentice has described her role under Lord Sugar as that of an “overpaid lackey”.
Stella English said her employment at Viglen IT was a “sham” and that she only saw Lord Sugar five times during her 13 months there and that the peer said he did not “give a sh*t” when she resigned.
Ms English is claiming constructive dismissal against Lord Sugar, who was present at the employment tribunal as she gave evidence. The company denies the charge.
Ms English won the role by beating 15 other candidates in the BBC1 show in 2010. Yesterday she said that when she was told in October 2011 that her contract would not be renewed she felt she had no choice but to resign.
On the first day of a four-month probationary period that she had to complete alongside Apprentice semi-finalist Chris Bates, Ms English, from Whitstable in Kent, said that: “No specific duties were allocated to me.”
She added: “I was provided with a desk and a phone but that was pretty much it.”
Ms English said her role at the company, which supplies IT equipment to academy schools, mainly consisted of basic administrative tasks. She told the hearing that she was not taken seriously by colleagues, who “ostracised” her because she had taken another woman’s job which had a salary of £35,000.
She added: “The career-enhancing opportunities that The Apprentice position as had been sold simply failed to materialise.”
Before competing on the TV show, Ms English was head of business management at a Japanese bank. She won the final of the sixth series of The Apprentice, broadcast in December 2010.
She told the tribunal that she had told Lord Sugar: “I have tried so hard for so long and it’s not working. I’m an overpaid lackey at Viglen. My pride would not allow me to continue doing it.”
Dressed smartly, in a cream jacket and black trousers, Ms English also told the East London Employment Tribunal Service that she had studied the company’s accounts and found that it only made an £800,000 per year profit, despite having a turnover of £60 million.
She said she e-mailed her boss, Bordan Tkachuk, to ask about the matter and to point out that £1.4 million of projects had not been invoiced, but that he sent her a reply, copying in everyone else in the office.
Ms English cried as she told the court that he had written: “I don’t know what you’re doing but this ain’t how things work round here.”
The Apprentice winner said she e-mailed Lord Sugar to ask to discuss the matter with him, but Mr Tkachuk was present when he arrived to meet her in May 2011. When Lord Sugar asked Mr Tkachuk what he thought of Ms English, he replied: “Nice girl. Don’t do a lot.”
She told the tribunal that she had been offered a role in another company — set-top box firm YouView — which she started in June 2011.
Ms English said: “I decided to take up the position due to pressure from Lord Sugar who gave cause for concern that there might be adverse publicity die to me resigning.”
She said Lord Sugar told her in September 2011 that he would not be renewing her contract and had given her the second role because he didn’t want to harm the integrity of The Apprentice or his own public image, but she said he added: “But the fact is that I don’t give a s**t.”
The hearing continues.
Stella English said her employment at Viglen IT was a “sham” and that she only saw Lord Sugar five times during her 13 months there and that the peer said he did not “give a sh*t” when she resigned.
Ms English is claiming constructive dismissal against Lord Sugar, who was present at the employment tribunal as she gave evidence. The company denies the charge.
Ms English won the role by beating 15 other candidates in the BBC1 show in 2010. Yesterday she said that when she was told in October 2011 that her contract would not be renewed she felt she had no choice but to resign.
On the first day of a four-month probationary period that she had to complete alongside Apprentice semi-finalist Chris Bates, Ms English, from Whitstable in Kent, said that: “No specific duties were allocated to me.”
She added: “I was provided with a desk and a phone but that was pretty much it.”
Ms English said her role at the company, which supplies IT equipment to academy schools, mainly consisted of basic administrative tasks. She told the hearing that she was not taken seriously by colleagues, who “ostracised” her because she had taken another woman’s job which had a salary of £35,000.
She added: “The career-enhancing opportunities that The Apprentice position as had been sold simply failed to materialise.”
Before competing on the TV show, Ms English was head of business management at a Japanese bank. She won the final of the sixth series of The Apprentice, broadcast in December 2010.
She told the tribunal that she had told Lord Sugar: “I have tried so hard for so long and it’s not working. I’m an overpaid lackey at Viglen. My pride would not allow me to continue doing it.”
Dressed smartly, in a cream jacket and black trousers, Ms English also told the East London Employment Tribunal Service that she had studied the company’s accounts and found that it only made an £800,000 per year profit, despite having a turnover of £60 million.
She said she e-mailed her boss, Bordan Tkachuk, to ask about the matter and to point out that £1.4 million of projects had not been invoiced, but that he sent her a reply, copying in everyone else in the office.
Ms English cried as she told the court that he had written: “I don’t know what you’re doing but this ain’t how things work round here.”
The Apprentice winner said she e-mailed Lord Sugar to ask to discuss the matter with him, but Mr Tkachuk was present when he arrived to meet her in May 2011. When Lord Sugar asked Mr Tkachuk what he thought of Ms English, he replied: “Nice girl. Don’t do a lot.”
She told the tribunal that she had been offered a role in another company — set-top box firm YouView — which she started in June 2011.
Ms English said: “I decided to take up the position due to pressure from Lord Sugar who gave cause for concern that there might be adverse publicity die to me resigning.”
She said Lord Sugar told her in September 2011 that he would not be renewing her contract and had given her the second role because he didn’t want to harm the integrity of The Apprentice or his own public image, but she said he added: “But the fact is that I don’t give a s**t.”
The hearing continues.