Engineering Ethics

Options for Action When an Engineering Ethics Threshold Is Reached 25

avoid publicity, to avoid making waves. Engineers are very quiet people”

(Kumagai, 2004).

I believe a more appropriate term for whistleblower is conscience.

Therefore, in this text we define the employee conscience as an employee

working to change an organization in which he or she is employed.

The employee may contact authorities within or outside the organization.

We also define the observer conscience as a person working to change an

organization in which he or she is not employed.

Regardless of whether an engineer decides to act within or outside an

organization, there are practical procedures that should be followed. First,

this action should only be performed if all normal channels have already

been exhausted. During the time these normal channels are being pursued

and during subsequent action, detailed records, including copies of sup-

porting documents, should be kept of all relevant data, formal meetings,

and applicable interactions. The records should stick to facts and exclude

emotional observations. If possible, these actions should be conducted with

other employees, as there is strength in numbers. Even if others are unwill-

ing to join the employee, they should at least be consulted for advice so

that the employee does not work in isolation. Especially if this is an exter-

nal case, a lawyer should be consulted about potential legal liabilities

(Schinzinger and Martin, 2000).

Realize that the reward for coming forward may be an investigation

into the employee’s personal and professional life. If real issues are not

found, other issues may be manufactured. When Ralph Nader, in his book

Unsafe at Any Speed, called attention to the structural defects in General

Motors’s Corvair, which he believed (an investigation by the National

Highway Traffic and Safety Administration proved otherwise) caused the

car to become uncontrollable and overturn at high speeds (see Chapter 3),

General Motors hired detectives to investigate him in hopes of discrediting

him. It later issued Nader a public apology and paid $425,000 to settle a

civil action for invasion of privacy (Cullen, 1994).

THE EMPLOYEE CONSCIENCE

One of the most famous employee consciences in recent years is Sherron

Watkins, former Enron vice president of corporate development (Figure 2.1).

Her two letters to Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay detailed how Enron hid

billions of dollars in debts and operating losses inside private partnerships

and complex accounting schemes in order to support Enron’s inflated stock

price. Though Watkins herself never publicized the letters, the letters became

important documentation to government investigators of the Enron scandal

(Duffy, 2002). Watkins’ situation and those of other employee consciences

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26 Engineering Ethics: An Industrial Perspective

Figure 2.1 Enron employee conscience Sherron Watkins.

Drawing by Lori Hiris from her 2003 animated film, The Invisible Hand. Reprinted with

permission of Lori Hiris.

laid the foundation for the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act’s whistleblower

clause. In this section, we discuss applicable legislation, procedures, and

examples of employees fighting for change within an organization in which

they are employed.

EMPLOYEE PROTECTION LEGISLATION

In 1978 the U.S. Congress included language in the Civil Service Reform

Act to protect federal employees from retaliation for making disclosures of

information regarding misconduct.After the courts and government agencies

created loopholes that limited who was protected, Congress unanimously

passed the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) in 1989. Because the courts

and agencies continued to create exceptions for who was protected, Congress

passed amendments to strengthen the WPA in 1994. After a series of hostile

judicial rulings creating more loopholes, S.995 and H.R.3806 were introduced

to further the WPA in 2001 (POGO, 2001). Although not passed, similar

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