A man who sued Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. for $11 million, alleging he was terminated in 2023 because he took time off to be with his ill son, has agreed to have an arbitrator hear his claims rather than a jury.
Matthew Mendez also alleges he was sexually harassed by two male supervisors. Mendez’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations include wrongful discharge, harassment, retaliation, discrimination, failure to accommodate and engage in the interactive process and failure to prevent harassment, discrimination or retaliation.
Mendez seeks $1 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages. On Jan. 17, the attorneys filed joint papers in Los Angeles Superior Court stating the two sides had agreed to arbitration of Mendez’s case. Northrop will pay the costs of arbitration and pending its outcome, the lawsuit will remain on hold.
Northrop attorneys maintained Mendez was bound by his employment agreement to arbitrate any workplace disputes.
In his lawsuit, Mendez says he was hired as an aircraft mechanic in May 2020 in the Palmdale plant and that two male bosses began sexually harassing him at the beginning of 2021.
“His supervisors would make unsolicited sexual comments and touch plaintiff’s buttocks and genitals,” according to the suit filed last Aug. 8, which further alleges that one of the supervisors once kissed Mendez on the face.
However, no action was taken against the two bosses after Mendez complained to management and in retaliation for the plaintiff speaking out the supervisors began retaliating by singling him out with reprimands for minor issues, the suit states.
Mendez was assigned a new manager in 2023, but that person was a friend of the other two bosses and continued the retaliation by micromanaging the plaintiff, the suit states.
Mendez was terminated in April 2023 because he took time off to care for his ill son, whom Northrop Grumman knew had a condition that “limited major life activities,” according to the complaint.