DENVER — A former Lockheed Martin Corp. employee has filed a whistle-blower complaint alleging the company retaliated against her after she filed an ethics complaint against her boss.
The company says the allegations are without merit.
Andrea Brown says she was forced out of her job after filing the complaint against former Vice President Wendy Owen in 2006. Brown accused her boss of having affairs with U.S. Army soldiers in the company’s Pen Pal program and of billing the government for the liaisons. The Pen Pal program paired employees with soldiers overseas who received letters and care packages.
A Labor Department administrative law judge is expected to issue a decision in March.
Company spokesman Jeffery Adams said in an e-mail that the regional administrator of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration previously found the claims are without merit.
“In dismissing the allegations, the OSHA regional administrator stated that credible evidence indicated that it was not reasonable to believe that any Lockheed Martin employee had misused any company or U.S. government funds, because the ‘allegations were based on speculation rather than firsthand knowledge,'” Adams wrote.
Lockheed Martin’s corporate director of ethics found Brown’s complaint unsubstantiated, but Brown argues that no one from the military was interviewed regarding the allegations.
Owen no longer works for Lockheed Martin and could not be reached for comment.
Brown earned about $100,000 a year as a director of communications for Lockheed Martin technical operations in Colorado Springs. She said she resigned last February after her working conditions became intolerable.
Brown is seeking the pay and benefits she lost, emotional and compensatory damages, and attorney fees and costs.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
