A longtime Boeing defense worker has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the company retaliated against him after he reported safety hazards and compliance failures on the KC-46 tanker program at Boeing's Everett plant.

Randall Fauver, a compliance leader for Boeing's Puget Sound defense operations, filed the complaint Saturday, Sept. 26, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, as first reported by KING 5 News. The suit brings claims under the Defense Contractor Whistleblower Act, the False Claims Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Bloomberg Law reported.

Fauver started at Boeing in 1989 and moved to Boeing Defense, Space & Security in 2001, according to the lawsuit. He became a compliance leader for the company's Puget Sound defense operations around 2015.

The complaint alleges Fauver began reporting worker safety, product quality and process concerns in 2023, including problems on the KC-46 military refueling tanker assembled in Everett. He reported those concerns to Boeing executives, the company's ethics office, the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense and the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), the lawsuit states.

Among the specific allegations: center fuel cell rework exposed workers to hazardous conditions, hexavalent chromium dust led to exposures requiring medical attention, and some employees worked in areas that required respirators. The complaint also describes workers entering a safety-restricted chromium area without protective equipment and employees allegedly certified for oxygen servicing without proper training. Boeing shut down its oxygen-servicing program for three days after Fauver flagged that issue, according to the lawsuit.

The DCMA asked Fauver to conduct a detailed investigation after Boeing submitted a corrective action report in 2023, the complaint states. His review identified about 140 underlying causes.

Fauver alleges Boeing began retaliating as he continued raising concerns. The company issued him corrective action memos in 2023, 2024 and 2025, according to the lawsuit. The 2024 action included a five-day suspension after he reported unresolved safety issues to executives.

In January 2026, Boeing leaders told Fauver he could accept a new operations analyst position or be laid off, the complaint states. He took the job. The new role stripped all compliance duties and barred him from communicating with his former compliance group or the DCMA, according to the lawsuit. The following month, he received a 1-out-of-5 performance rating, which the complaint alleges blocked a merit raise and reduced his bonus.

Fauver is seeking reinstatement, economic and punitive damages, and attorney's fees.

KING 5 reported it reached out to Boeing for comment. No response from the company appeared in any published account as of Tuesday, Sept. 29.

The lawsuit lands as the KC-46 program faces broader scrutiny. Boeing reported a $565 million loss on the tanker in the fourth quarter of 2025, pushing total program losses past $8 billion, according to Defense One. The U.S. Air Force paused a contract for 75 additional KC-46 tankers in March until Boeing addresses longstanding deficiencies, FlightGlobal reported. A June 2026 Government Accountability Office report found the Air Force failed to meet tanker fleet readiness standards from fiscal year 2019 through 2025, citing early parts failures and structural issues, according to FlightGlobal.

No hearing date or response deadline has been set in the case.