Boeing Whistleblowers Speak Out After Colleague's Death

Roy Irvin and Bill Seitz were two Boeing employees who spoke out about alleged quality control issues at the company's South Carolina plant. Both men worked alongside John Barnett, who had raised concerns about declining production standards. After Barnett's death in 2024, Irvin broke his silence, giving an interview to the New York Post where he accused quality leadership of discouraging investigators from writing up issues or pursuing corrective actions.

Irvin alleged that 'gaslighting' was common at the workplace and that the company discouraged corrections involving 787 aircraft. He submitted written testimony to Congress in April 2024 and was deposed in Barnett's lawsuit. Today, Irvin works as a Quality Assurance Engineer (QA Engineer) at Rolls-Royce Aerospace in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Bill Seitz, another former Boeing employee, decided to speak out after Barnett's death. He shared an incident where he filmed a manager using a sledgehammer to fix loose bolts and took the footage to upper management, only to be asked to remove it. Seitz left Boeing in 2014 due to his concerns.