Lockheed Martin employee files $300K discrimination lawsuit

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A nurse attorney for Lockheed Martin has filed a $300,000 race and sex discrimination lawsuit against the company, claiming she was harassed by her supervisor about her status as a single mother, forced to reduce her hours and then retaliated against when she complained.

Andrea French has worked for the Bethesda-based company in an office dedicated to nursing information technology consulting since 2005, according to the suit.

A spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Monday. Guru V. Shanmugamani, an attorney for French, also did not immediately return a request for comment. Shanmugamani is with Joseph, Greenwald & Laake P.A. in Greenbelt.

French’s suit states that problems arose when a new supervisor began overseeing the office in 2011.

The supervisor, Patrice Waters, began “questioning and badgering” French, who is black, about being a single mother, according to the lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. Waters then reduced French’s hours and changed her “flex schedule” to one with set weekly hours, eliminating one of the major benefits of her position.

Meanwhile, the suit alleges, a white nurse in French’s office regularly “teleworked,” or worked from home, one day a week so that she could attend craft shows. French, who is the only African-American female working in the office, submitted a complaint to human resources in February 2012, but nothing changed, the suit says.

The following year, French took on the additional duties of a vacant administrative position in the office, while the white nurses in the office were not required to help with the extra workload, the suit alleges. Around the same time, Waters placed French on a stricter schedule that prohibited her from teleworking at all.

From July 2013 to October 2013, French worked extra hours as needed to complete the extra administrative work but was not paid for the additional hours because Waters claimed not to have received an email from her, according to the complaint.

Then, in February 2014, French received a disciplinary notice from Waters alleging she had failed to adhere to her schedule. Soon after, Waters placed French on a performance improvement plan. Waters announced that team members would only be able to change their schedules twice a month with her approval — however, according to the suit, the white nurses in the office regularly altered their schedules without receiving disciplinary notices.

At one point, French requested that she be allowed to come into the office early for a week, in order to be able to leave in time to pick up her child in the afternoons, the lawsuit states.

“The white nurses at [Lockheed Martin] made similar requests in the past without any issues,” the suit states. “Ms. Waters, however, replied to Plaintiff that this was insubordination and a potential mischarging of time.”

In late 2014, French raised the issue of discrimination with Waters, but Waters dismissed her concerns by telling her she “[tended] to stereotype,” the lawsuit claims. Waters later said she had to limit French’s hours due to “financial contract budget constraints,” even though the white nurses continued to work 40-hour weeks.

Shortly after French filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in December 2014, Waters gave her an “extremely negative” performance review, in which she told French her goal of furthering her education did not count as a positive factor in her performance.

“Although Plaintiff’s office specializes in nursing information technology consulting, Ms. Waters told Plaintiff that her goals of getting certifications and a master’s degree in her field were not relevant,” the complaint states. “Ms. Waters did not consult with the client — who regularly raves about Plaintiff’s performance — as to whether Plaintiff’s improved credentials impact her work product.”

The case is Andrea French v. Lockheed Martin Inc., 8:15-cv-01543-TDC.