Lockheed Can’t Use Arbitration Ruling to Narrow Worker Bias Case

Lockheed Martin Corp. cannot use an arbitrator’s decision in a union grievance proceeding to preclude a former employee from challenging his firing via a discrimination and retaliation case, a US judge said.

The arbitrator concluded that the defense contractor didn’t run afoul of a collective bargaining agreement when it suspended and ultimately terminated the worker. But the arbitrator wasn’t faced with the worker’s retaliation and racial discrimination allegations, so the decision on insubordination won’t get preclusive effect in the bias case, the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas said Wednesday.

Plaintiff Nestor Beltran, who is Hispanic, worked ...