Blown Away by the Whistle

Steven Doran and Glenn Walp, two whistleblowers who were fired
after exposing financial corruption at top-secret Los Alamos National
Laboratory in California, were vindicated this Thursday, January 30, when
the U.S. Department of Energy declared the company's actions
"incomprehensible." The uncovered fraud cost five top managers their
jobs, and brought some members of Congress to rethink how the lab should
be run. However, even with their vindication, Doran and Walp have not
been reinstated.

"It's a momentary triumph, but a long-term disaster," says Robert
Hogan, Ph.D., president of Hogan Assessment Systems in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
While honesty may be right, the consequences are often dramatic. Those
who get tattled on may receive less punishment than those who tattle.
"Given the current economy, losing your job could be catastrophic. People
are reticent to whistle blow," says Susan Seidman, Ph.D., a psychologist
in Westchester, New York.

Even in a thriving economy, whistleblowers may find themselves
unemployed. They are regarded as troublemakers wherever they go. Right or
wrong, the people who succeed at work are those who stay loyal to their
superiors. Adds Hogan, "The moral: Don't blow the whistle."