Hypocrisy vs. the Whistle-Blower : Jury upholds a claim that a public-spirited worker was punished for telling the truth.

Eight years have passed since federal legislation was enacted that enlisted citizens in a campaign against corruption by companies doing business with the federal government. We applauded the legislation because it figured to increase the chances of uncovering fraud and wrongdoing.

It’s true that the motivations of whistle-blowers come in several flavors. Some are admirably public-spirited. Some are simply mean-spirited, and others operate out of pure self-interest. At this point, it sounds as if Tarzana resident Sohrab Haroonian, a former senior test engineer for a Burbank firm, falls into the first of those taste-test categories.

Haroonian claims that he was asked to write false reports on defective components. He says he blew the whistle because “I have a good friend whose father is like my own father to me, and he had a heart valve. . . . One day one of these parts could end up in his heart--I would be responsible.”

Haroonian says that he was demoted, and then fired, for his actions. His story was convincing enough for a Glendale Superior Court jury to order the company to pay him $200,000 in lost wages and $150,000 for emotional distress. Attorneys for the company say that they will appeal.

What is disturbing, however, is Haroonian’s claim that he has become a pariah because of the whistle-blowing and because of the lawsuit. No one, he claims, will hire him because he didn’t keep his mouth shut.

We don’t know what will happen to this case on appeal. Higher courts may rule in favor of the company. But Haroonian’s first round victory in Glendale Superior Court adds weight to his claims.

So often, we as citizens are called upon to report misdeeds. We tell children that they must defy loyalties and report peers who bring weapons to school. From everything from television shows such as “America’s Most Wanted” to hot lines by which people can report graffiti vandalism, the public stance is that it is right and proper to come forward and tell what it is that we know. Those who seek to punish the honest whistle-blower expose a terrible hypocrisy and set an awful example.