The family of longtime Boeing employee John Barnett, a whistleblower who raised concerns about quality-control and safety issues in the company’s production line, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit that blames the airplane maker for his suicide.
Barnett — a quality manager who worked with the aircraft manufacturer for more than 30 years — was found dead on March 9, 2024 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a truck parked at a hotel in Charleston, S.C.
A resident of Louisiana, Barnett had been in the area for interviews with Boeing’s legal team. His death came after he participated in a formal deposition, during which he was questioned by the company’s lawyers, and then again by his own, regarding what he said was a lack of quality control and safety at the South Carolina plant.
In a newly filed lawsuit, Barnett’s family accused Boeing’s upper management of pressuring employees “to ignore and conceal defects and to not properly document aircraft build records.”
When Barnett did not oblige, management subjected him to a “concerted campaign of harassment, abuse and intimidation intended to discourage, discredit and humiliate him until he would either give up or be discredited,” according to the lawsuit filed in Charleston federal court.
“Boeing had threatened to break John and break him it did,” the documents state.
During his time at Boeing’s North Charleston plant, where he worked on the 787 Dreamliner starting in 2010, Barnett said he witnessed overworked employees...
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