A former assembly-line worker at aircraft parts supplier Ameri-King claims in a lawsuit that the company ordered workers to remove “Made in China” labels from imported parts and replace them with “Made in USA” labels, Courthouse News Service reported on December 19, 2014.
What the complaint alleges
Hoang Nguyen sued Huntington Beach, California-based Ameri-King on December 16, 2014, in Orange County court. He said he worked on the company’s assembly line for eight years.
“Many of the parts imported from China and relabeled, such as antennas, were found to be faulty,” the complaint states. It also claims that parts customers returned as faulty were “merely repaired by Ameri-King workers, relabeled, and sold as new, FAA-approved, ‘Made in USA’ parts.”
FAA visit and firing
Nguyen says the Federal Aviation Administration investigated Ameri-King, visited the company in January 2013 and interviewed him, then interviewed him again at FAA offices a month later. He says the company fired him in January 2014, citing a lack of work, and then hired new employees to do his tasks.
He seeks reinstatement, lost wages, costs and punitive damages for whistleblower retaliation, wrongful firing and unfair business practices. The claims are allegations; the report did not include a response from Ameri-King.
Source & credit
Source: Courthouse News Service: “Alarming Complaint About Aircraft Parts”, December 19, 2014.