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A building in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward that houses Olympus Corp.'s headquarters is pictured in this Nov. 8 file photo. (Mainichi)

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Tokyo Bar Association urged Olympus Corp. on Friday to fairly assess the performance of an employee who was unfairly transferred to different sections in retaliation for blowing the whistle on his boss in 2007.

In a written warning, the association also urged Olympus to transfer Masaharu Hamada, 51, to a more appropriate section in accordance with his wishes, on the grounds that its decision to transfer him to different sections constituted an abuse of his rights.

The association said the company transferred Hamada "in retaliation for his whistle-blowing" and that the infringement of his rights by the company "has become serious as it was carried out over such a long time."

Hamada believed that his boss, who was trying to recruit an employee of a trading partner, was violating a law prohibiting unfair competition. He reported the matter to the company's compliance section in June 2007.

Hamada, then working as a sales staff, was assigned to different jobs three times after the compliance section notified the boss and the personnel department of his identity and whistle-blowing.

In March 2009, Hamada asked the association to intervene to protect his rights.

Although the Tokyo District Court earlier ruled that his assertion was groundless, the Tokyo High Court overturned the ruling last August, invalidating the company's decision to transfer him, as it contravened an in-house rule prohibiting unfair treatment of whistle-blowers, and ordered the company to pay 2.2 million yen in damages to Hamada. Olympus has since appealed the high court ruling to the Supreme Court.

The association said in its written warning that an official at Olympus' compliance division informed Hamada's superior of his whistle-blowing, leading the company to unfairly transfer him to different sections.

It also noted that the company harassed Hamada by barring him from contacting clients and continued to unfairly assign him the lowest rank in performance assessments.

Hamada told a news conference Olympus has continued to abuse its power over him, even after the high court overturned the lower court ruling.

Olympus said in a statement the same day that it takes the warning seriously and would correct its treatment of Hamada "if it needs to be amended."