BETHESDA, MARYLAND — Lockheed Martin has agreed to pay about $29.5 million to resolve federal allegations that some of its workplace diversity practices discriminated against white employees and violated anti-discrimination requirements attached to government contracts.
The settlement includes $22 million paid to the federal government under the False Claims Act and about $7.5 million distributed among more than 1,000 employees through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Federal investigators alleged that Lockheed’s “Compensation Adder” program used statistical race and sex “flags” when reviewing additional pay awards. The Justice Department says some human resources officials pressured managers to remove nonminority employees and add minority employees until those disparities were eliminated.
The government also alleged that Lockheed considered race or sex in some hiring, promotion, mentoring and leadership-development decisions while certifying that it complied with federal nondiscrimination rules.
Former Lockheed vice president Tim Booher brought the underlying whistleblower case and will receive $4.4 million under the False Claims Act settlement.
Lockheed denied wrongdoing and said it settled to avoid the cost and distraction of prolonged litigation. The agreement explicitly states that the federal claims are allegations and that there has been no determination of liability.
The case is part of the Trump administration’s broader use of the False Claims Act to challenge diversity-related employment practices at federal contractors.
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