Here in Canada it has been all over the news lately – the group of young men who were harassing a TV reporter by yelling lewd remarks into her microphone. Many feel they have the right to free speech and just as many feel they were inappropriate. More still, feel that although inappropriate nothing should be done about it.

Let’s look at what happened to one of the young men. Shawn Simoes was fired from his engineering  position at Hydro One. Now  is the time to look at what can get one fired in the business world.

1. Swearing at a customer – never a good thing to do at the worksite but even worse when you do it to a customer.
2. Theft – when you steal from the employer, even little things, it is grounds for dismissal.
3. Dishonesty – lying about, covering up for a situation such as continuously being late for work and then lying about it.
4. Loss of trust – when an individual creates secret pacts for lower prices in exchange for goods this abuses the employers trust in the employee.
5. Insubordination – when an employee continually refuses to do the tasks assigned, it is grounds for dismissal. The same is true if an employee continually goes over his/her supervisor’s head to complain to the boss.
6. Absenteeism – when an employee is continuously absent with no valid reason and has been cautioned about this on numerous occasions, firing is acceptable.
7. Sexual Harassment – any time an individual is harassed by another in the workplace it is cause for dismissal
8. Gross incompetence – not doing the job at all to the level expected of the position – if it is not gross then the employer must provide an indication and an opportunity for training before dismissal can occur.
9. When an employee who has been hired is found to not have the certification, experience noted upon hiring it is grounds for dismissal.
10. Alcohol/drug abuse – when it causes fear of safety for those in the workplace  – this one can be tricky and although it could be cause for immediate dismissal one may want to err on the side of caution here. It would be best to suspend the individual and provide counselling and writing him/her up before ever getting to the point of just cause dismissals.

These are a few of the things to watch for and ensure you do not engage in if you like the place you work. Remember, word does get around within an industry and you don’t want to find yourself without a job with other employers due to your own lack of judgement.