The Tokyo High Court on Aug. 31 reversed a lower court ruling and ordered Olympus Corp. to pay ¥2.2 million in damages to a 50-year-old employee who argued that the firm transferred him to different sections three times in retaliation for blowing the whistle on his boss. The firm appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court on Sept. 9.
In June 2007, the employee told the firm's compliance section that his boss was trying to hire a worker away from a firm with which Olympus has business relations. He feared that this would lead Olympus to lose the other firm's trust in it. Despite the obligation to keep acts of whistleblowing secret, the section e-mailed the employee's name and report to his boss and the personnel affairs section. Four months after the whistleblowing, the employee, a sales expert, was transferred to a research section and later to other sections apparently in a show of corporate displeasure.
The whistleblower protection law came into force in April 2006, following a series of scandals such as food mislabeling and coverups of nuclear power plant problems. Although it prohibits firms from giving whistleblowers unfair treatment such as dismissal or demotion, it does not impose any penalties on firms that treat them unfairly. Therefore those who seek redress have no choice but to file a lawsuit.