The 9th nominee for the Worst Employer of 2026 is … The Predatory Power Brokers

Imagine pitching a project at work, only to have your supervisor tell you the best way to get it approved is to flirt with a senior manager.

That's how this story allegedly began for Boeing employee VyVy Nguyen.

According to a lawsuit just filed in Washington state court, Nguyen's supervisor encouraged her to entertain the advances of senior manager Brandon Mitchell, telling her, "It could benefit us all." 

Then it got much worse.

Nguyen alleges Mitchell showered her with unwanted attention, gifts, and physical advances before pressuring her into sex. When she tried to end it, he allegedly promised her father a job at Boeing. She further alleges he later forced her to have sex and threatened her employment.

When she became pregnant and refused to have an abortion, Mitchell allegedly wanted nothing further to do with her or their child.

Surely HR stepped in? Not according to the lawsuit. Nguyen says her supervisor told coworkers about her pregnancy and suggested she could lose her job. She reported it to HR, which assigned an investigator who interviewed her but allegedly never followed up. In November, she is expected to return to her regular assignment, under the same supervisor, in the same building as Mitchell.

She sued for hostile work environment and disparate treatment. She also alleges negligent hiring and retention. According to the complaint, Mitchell's girlfriend told her he had been fired from a prior job for sexual misconduct and had a history with subordinates. If Boeing knew, or should have known, that's an even stronger liability case.

These are allegations, not proven facts. Boeing and the individual defendants deserve their day in court. But if even a fraction of this complaint is substantiated, it's a spectacular failure of workplace accountability.

Employers, a beautifully written anti-harassment policy is worthless if management ignores it, enables the misconduct, or participates in it.

Boeing builds airplanes. It knows catastrophic failures rarely happen without warning signs. The same is true of workplace harassment.

If even some of these allegations are proven, Boeing will have more than earned its place on my list of 2026's worst employers.