SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 25: The Lockheed Martin logo is displayed at a booth during America's Air Show at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar on September 25, 2026 in San Diego, CA. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
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.
Lockheed Martin resolution
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 mentoring programs restricted by race or sex, as well as management compensation metrics linked to demographic representation goals.
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"Companies, especially those that do business with the federal government, should not make DEI compensation decisions that prioritize an employee's race over the merit of their work," said Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr.
The DOJ portion of the settlement stems in part from a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Lockheed Vice President Tim Booher under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Booher will receive $4.4 million as his statutory share of the recovery.
The remaining $7.5 million resolves a 2025 EEOC Commissioner's Charge brought by Chair Andrea Lucas, which alleged the company violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against white employees in performance evaluations, bonuses, and compensation. EEOC officials noted it represents the largest class recovery to date under Title VII involving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program practices.
"Title VII protects every worker from employment discrimination on the basis of race — and that protection does not yield when discriminatory decisions are framed as diversity initiatives," Lucas said in a statement.
Under the terms of the settlement, Lockheed Martin agreed to adhere to merit-based hiring and promotion practices without considering race or sex. The company cooperated in resolving the investigations.
Federal prosecutors emphasized that the claims resolved in the settlement are allegations only and do not constitute a formal determination of liability.
Dig deeper:
There are three primary production campuses in Texas for Lockheed Martin: Fort Worth, Grand Prairie and Lufkin. Lockheed Martin also maintains field offices, customer support centers, engineering labs, and embedded military support detachments across more than 20 Texas cities and military installations.
The Source: Information in this article is from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Texas.