Sir Alan Sugar: Why I have to think twice before employing a woman

Sir Alan Sugar warned last night that equal opportunity laws have made it harder for a woman to get a job.

Employers are not allowed to ask women about having children - so they would just not employ them, he said.

The self-made millionaire and star of BBC TV's The Apprentice added: "Everything has gone too far. We have maternity laws where people are entitled to too much.

"If someone comes into an inter-view and you think to yourself 'there is a possibility that this woman might have a child and therefore take time off' it is a bit of a psychological negative thought.

"If they are applying for a position which is very important, then I should imagine that some employers might think 'this is a bit risky'.

"They would like to ask the question 'Are you planning to get married and to have any children?.'"

In the last series of The Apprentice, mother-of-two Katie Hopkins - who became infamous for her ruthless assassination of her rivals - made it into the last two, one step away from a lucrative job with Sir Alan.

But she told him she did not want to uproot her family, and quit. Cambridge graduate Simon Ambrose was eventually given the £100,000-a-year post.

The previous year Michelle Dewberry won the job, but she left a few months later by mutual agreement.

Sir Alan claimed that the current-laws are "counter-productive for women".

He said: "That's the bottom line, you're not allowed to ask so it's easy - just don't employ them.

"It will get harder to get a job as a woman."

He added that if he were to interview a woman with children for a job at his company Amstrad in Brentwood, Essex, he would be unlikely to hire her.

Sir Alan said: "If I had a woman sitting there who said 'I have two kids, nine months and two years old and I live in Clapham [South London]' and we are in Brentwood, by law I am not allowed to say to her 'hold on love, do you think you are going to be able to cope in this job, you have to get the kids sorted?'

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You're fired: Former Apprentices Katie Hopkins, who pulled out of the show for family reasons, and series winner Michelle Dewberry, who resigned after working for Sir Alan for a short time

"Would you prefer me to say 'thank you goodbye' and then chuck the CV in the bin? Wouldn't you prefer me to say 'hang on, if I did give you this job how would you cope?'.

"Then she would have a chance to explain if she has a solution.

"If I am employing you to do a job, I want to be sure you can be there, so I want to be able to ask about what provision you have for children."

Working from home and flexitime also fill Sir Alan with horror.

"Many employees are just skiving off," he said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. "They stay at home and pretend to work. They don't jump out of bed in the morning and think 'I will work really hard for seven hours'."

Sir Alan says he disciplines himself to working only five days a week but admits he is constantly on his Black-Berry at weekends.

He said: "I was the first to use faxes but I would never use Facebook, that's rubbish. I am very fortunate that my wife is very nice and not demanding."