The family of the Boeing whistleblower, who tragically took his own life last year after he raised concerns about safety issues at the company’s factories, has brought a lawsuit against the company. They allege that he was a target of “harassment, abuse, and intimidation.”

John Barnett, a former quality manager at Boeing, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head inside his truck in the parking lot of a hotel in South Carolina. This happened after he endured days of intense questioning for a high-profile lawsuit regarding the company’s manufacturing practices.

According to the lawsuit filed by his family in the US District Court in South Carolina, Boeing had allegedly engaged in a systematic pattern of mistreatment towards him. The family claims that this mistreatment was designed to demoralize, discredit, and shame him to the point of resignation or embarrassment.

“Boeing had threatened to break John, and break him it did,” the family’s attorneys alleged in court papers.

Barnett, 62, worked at Boeing for more than three decades before he retired in 2017. During his tenure there, he said he had raised numerous safety complaints to his bosses, particularly when he worked at the company’s Charleston plant, that went unheeded.

Boeing retaliated by intentionally giving Barnett poor job reviews and less desirable shifts, according to the lawsuit.  The company also publicly blamed him for delays that upset his co-workers and kept him from transferring to another plant, the lawsuit alleged.

After he retired, he became a whistleblower and he spoke out about concerns he had about the company with journalists.

His mental condition spiraled and he was diagnosed with PTSD.

“Whether or not Boeing intended to drive John to his death or merely destroy his ability to function, it was absolutely foreseeable that PTSD and John’s unbearable depression, panic attacks, and anxiety, which would in turn lead to an elevated risk of suicide,” the lawsuit said. 

“Boeing may not have pulled the trigger, but Boeing’s conduct was the clear cause, and the clear foreseeable cause, of John’s death.”

Barnett was discovered on March 9 in his Dodge Ram truck by Charleston police with a suicide note scratched on a notebook.

“I can’t do this any longer! Enough!” he wrote.

“America,” he continued “Come together or die!! I pray the motherf–kers that destroyed my life pay!!! I pray Boeing pays!!! Bury me face down so Boeing and their lying-ass leaders can kiss my ass.”

Barnett’s family is asking for compensation for emotional distress and mental anguish, back pay, 10 years of lost future earnings as well as bonuses, health expenses and his lost life insurance benefits.

With Post Wires