Lockheed pays $29.5M after DEI bonuses allegedly shut out white workers

The largest public EEOC recovery tied to a DEI program just landed on a defense contractor's balance sheet.

Lockheed Martin has agreed to pay about $29.5 million to resolve allegations that it discriminated against white workers while selling diversity as progress. Of that, $22 million goes to the U.S. government under the False Claims Act for allegedly certifying equal-opportunity compliance on federal contracts while doing the opposite. Another $7.5 million goes to more than 1,000 employees under a Title VII settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The mechanics matter. From 2021, Lockheed ran a "Compensation Adder" or Comp Adder bonus that topped up pay for the top 20% of staff in each business area. Managers nominated on merit. Then, the government alleges, HR ran race and sex "flags" on the lists and pressed leaders to add people of color and remove non-minority employees until the statistics cleared. Separate claims cover race- and sex-based hiring and promotion goals, plus mentoring tracks limited by demographics. Former vice president Tim Booher, the whistleblower on the False Claims Act case, takes $4.4 million of the government recovery.

Lockheed, based in Bethesda, Maryland, denied the allegations. It said it settled to avoid the cost and distraction of long litigation and admitted no liability. The DOJ and EEOC stress the claims are allegations only. The company must keep a merit-based workplace where race and sex stay out of hiring, pay, bonus and promotion decisions.

For a contractor that lives on taxpayer money, the bill is not the DEI slogan. It is the certification: promising colour-blind treatment, then managing the bonus pool by race.

*Image: Lockheed Martin facility sign. Photo: Getty Images via New York Post / AP.*

Source: AP News