Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corporation has agreed to pay approximately $29.5 million to settle allegations that it engaged in race- and sex-based employment discrimination and falsely certified compliance with federal civil rights laws, federal officials announced Tuesday.
What we know:
The resolution includes a $22 million False Claims Act settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and a $7.5 million formal agreement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to compensate more than 1,000 workers.
Federal authorities alleged that the Bethesda, Maryland-based defense giant violated its federal contractor obligations by taking race and sex into account when making hiring, compensation, promotion, and professional development decisions while certifying to the government that it operated without regard to protected characteristics.
The backstory:
According to the Justice Department, Lockheed implemented an incentive program known as "Compensation Adder" starting in 2021, designed to grant the top 20% of employees in each business division extra pay increases. Federal prosecutors alleged that after initial merit-based nominations were made, human resources personnel flagged demographic outliers and pressured business leaders to remove non-minority employees from the list while adding minority employees who had not originally qualified.
The government also cited internal "aspirational plus" hiring goals and executive...
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corporation has agreed to pay approximately $29.5 million to settle allegations that it engaged in race- and sex-based employment discrimination and falsely cert...