Heroic Status Conferred

Putting Their Necks On The Line

                     SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
                Saturday, December 28, 2002, page B1
                        By DAVID LAZARUS

  To say Roberta Ann Johnson has good timing
would be a serious understatement.  The
University of San Francisco politics professor
has spent 10 years researching the phenomenon
of whistle-blowers in the public and private
sectors, and has a book on the subject
("Whistle-Blowing: When It Works - and Why")
coming out next week.

  And now here's Time magazine this week
picking three corporate and government
whistle-blowers as its "Persons of the Year,"
a celebration, the magazine says, of "three
women of ordinary demeanor but exceptional
guts and sense."

  You can't buy publicity like that...

  ...Enron...Arthur Anderson and WorldCom...

  ...Today, Johnson finds herself at the forefront
of a trend that has helped reshape the way
companies worldwide do business.  She believes
the heroic status conferred on whistle-blowers
by Time will only encourage others to speak up
when they witness wrongdoing in the executive
suite.

  "It's a very important move by the
magazine," she said.  "It tells people
in the private sector that they have
enormous responsibility and that there's
something called doing the right thing."...

  ...A true whistle-blower, Johnson observed,
is someone who is prepared to go public -
whatever the cost - to expose criminal acts
or abuses of power.  "A whistle-blower makes
a decision that's independent because they
see an abuse and want to fix it," she said...

  ...Or as Time said of all three women:
"They were people who did right just by doing
their jobs rightly - which means ferociously,
with eyes open and with the bravery the rest
of us always hope we have and may never know
if we do."

  It might help if Congress passed legislation
explicitly protecting public- and private-
sector whistle-blowers from retaliation
by employers under any circumstances, just as
the law now shields those who step forward
with allegations of discrimination based on
race or sex.

  Congress included a little-noticed provision
in its corporate-responsibility bill this summer
making it illegal for companies to "discharge,
demote, suspend, threaten, harass or in any
other manner discriminate against" any worker
who provides information on financial misconduct.

  While such protections might have spurred
Time's Enron and WorldCom whistle-blowers
to act even sooner, a variety of other abuses,
from election fraud to obstruction of justice,
remain without legal recourse if employers seek
revenge.

  A recent survey by the nonprofit National
Whistleblower Center in Washington found that
most employees who expose wrongdoing in the
workplace face retaliation by their employers,
from being sacked to on-the-job harassment.

  "The fact of the matter is that you're about
certain to have some form of retaliation if
you blow the whistle," Johnson said...

   ...many employers know all too well that
social pressures are often sufficient to keep
wannabe whistle-blowers in check.

  "If you're a whistle-blower, you will always
be tainted with the reputation of someone
who is not a team player," said Johnson.
"This can be deadly in the corporate world."

  She's still optimistic that more and more
whistle-blowers will step forward in months
ahead, especially now that Time has given
its blessing to such selflessness (post-Enron
book deals notwithstanding).

  "But it's never easy," Johnson said.

DAVID LAZARUS' COLUMN APPEARS THURSDAYS,
SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS.  HE CAN ALSO BE SEEN
REGULARLY ON KTVU's "MORNINGS ON 2.'  SEND
TIPS OF FEEDBACK TO dlazarus@sfchronicle.com

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