Lockheed pays $29.5M to settle DEI claims sparked by former VP

Lockheed Martin has become the fourth – and largest – government contractor to settle allegations with the Justice Department that it operated a diversity, equity and inclusion program that discriminated against white and male employees.

The Justice Department said Tuesday that Lockheed is paying $29.5 million in total across two settlements. This includes one $22 million payment to settle False Claims Act allegation and a second, separate $7.5 million agreement to end a case with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The $7.5 million will go to more than 1,000 Lockheed employees under an EEOC agreement to resolve a 2025 Commissioner’s Charge filed by EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, which alleged the company discriminated against white employees in performance ratings, bonuses and pay.

In the settlement agreement, “Lockheed denies that it engaged in the covered conduct and denies the allegations in the civil action.” Both parties involved said they settled to avoid protracted litigation.

The Justice Department also uses the word “contends” to describe its allegations against Lockheed Martin and does not present them as established facts. Justice intervened in part on Oct. 28.

The action was brought in July 2025 by Tim Booher, a former vice president of combat systems, who will receive $4.4 million as part of the settlement.

The case started with a qui tam action filing Lockheed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Booher alleged that Lockheed's human resources team told him to swap out 18 white employees from a bonus and compensation program known as Comp Adder, then replace them with non-white employees.

His filing lays out his claims of how Lockheed HR officials suggested he focus on the “cuspers,” employees ranked just above or below the 20% cutoff, and swap the lowest-ranked white employees who made the list for the highest-ranked minority employees who did not.

Booher’s complaints about the order were met with warnings of “legal activity” if he did not comply and his boss told him he would “get used to” it, according to the filing.

He left Lockheed in 2023 and in 2024, Booher went to EEOC Commissioner Lucas with his story.

Justice's allegations reach further back than Booher’s. The government contends the practices date to 2019 and included sex as well as race.

Justice alleged Lockheed tied managers’ incentive pay to demographic goals and offered mentoring and leadership programs, such as an Executive Leadership Diversity Mentoring program, on the basis of race or sex.

DEI programs such as these have been a frequent target of the Trump administration, including at government contractors.

In September, Accenture agreed to pay $25 million to settle similar allegations.

In August, Deloitte paid out a $21.5 million settlement. IBM paid $17.1 million in April to settle allegations that it failed to comply with anti-discrimination requirements.

Companies that operate as federal contractors are required to certify that they comply with anti-discrimination requirements of the Federal Acquisition Regulations. Before the second Trump term, this often meant that companies had programs to foster advancement of non-white and female employees.

The Trump administration has argued that these programs put white male employees at a disadvantage by denying them equal opportunities. The president has signed executive orders banning practices based on race or gender.

In a statement provided to Washington Technology through a spokesperson, Lockheed Martin said:

“We continue to deny the allegations, which relate to past practices. We did not admit liability, determining it would be best for all involved to put these matters behind us so we can remain focused on our critical national security mission.”