After raising questions about the structural integrity of its planes, Boeing is now facing multiple allegations that it has terminated employees for trying to raise safety concerns.
A union representing Boeing employees said this week that the plane maker retaliated in 2022 against two engineers who oversaw safety practices on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on April 18, saying Boeing gave the two employees “identical” negative performance ratings — a crucial metric that determines pay increases, promotions and layoffs.
The two engineers were employees of Boeing and also reported to the FAA through the agency’s Organization Delegation Authorization program, a status that gave them employee insight into Boeing’s safety practices. SPEEA’s statement on Tuesday said employees were reluctant to use Boeing’s “Speak Up” protocols after identifying quality problems for fear their supervisors would not listen. The engineers battled with supervisors over company practices for six months, ultimately leading to a reevaluation of the company’s engineering operations.
“We will not tolerate retaliation of any kind and encourage our employees to speak up if they see a problem,” Boeing said Fortune in a statement. “After an extensive review of documentation and interviewing more than a dozen witnesses, our investigators found no evidence of retaliation or interference. We have determined that the allegations are unfounded.”
SPEEA director Ray Goforth said he doesn’t buy Boeing’s claims.
“If Boeing is so confident in the quality of that investigation, why is it hiding the report from the FAA? Federal law requires Boeing to share that report with SPEEA, but the company refuses to do so,” he said Fortune in a statement. “Boeing has forfeited the right to be taken at its word by anyone.”
SPEEA’s statement and publication of the complaint came just hours before Boeing reported its first-quarter earnings. Although the company posted a better-than-expected outcome, it still recorded a net loss of $355 million – largely due to the fallout from the January 5 grounding of Alaska Airlines, which prompted increased scrutiny from the FAA. Following the FAA’s March investigation, which revealed more than a dozen operational issues with Boeing’s planes, the regulatory agency is requiring the manufacturer to report on its updated safety and quality procedures by May 28.
Increasing concerns
SPEEA’s complaint was filed the day after whistleblowers and industry experts testified about Boeing’s safety culture before the Senate Subcommittee on Interior and Government Affairs led by Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
During the hearing, Boeing quality engineer and whistleblower Sam Salehpour, who has worked for the company for 30 years and is still employed, said he had raised concerns with regulators over the past three years about the quality of Boeing’s planes. Salepour came forward earlier this month, saying about 1,400 787 and 777 Max models were flying with potentially serious structural weaknesses and at risk of premature failure. He said his concerns fell on deaf ears within the company.
“I was ignored. I was told not to cause any delay,” he said during the hearing. “I was honestly told to keep my mouth shut.”
Salehpour told the subcommittee that after working as an engineer in the company’s 787 division, he was transferred to the 777 division because of his repeated comments questioning the safety of gaps between aircraft panels. He said his supervisor stopped inviting him to meetings and he was subsequently offered a “new job” in the other department.
“They do it quite secretly,” he says.
Other Boeing whistleblowers include John Barnett, who criticized the company’s allegedly sloppy practices at its North Charleston, S.C., plant in 2019 after two plane crashes that killed 346 passengers. He died by suicide in March, hours after testifying before the Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges.
Barnett said that in 2015, after alerting his supervisor to a production error that could cause a short circuit, his boss demoted him to the facility’s “material review separation room,” a move that Barnett viewed not only as retaliation but in fact as a relegation. .
“You want to touch the plane, that’s great work,” he said. “Becoming the manager of a parts store is quite humbling.”