A man has settled his lawsuit against Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in which he alleged he was terminated in 2023 because he took time off to be with his ill son.
Matthew Mendez also alleged 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.
In the wake of the accord, Judge Gary D. Roberts dismissed Mendez’s case on Monday. Mendez had sought $1 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages, but the settlement terms were not revealed in court papers.
In previous court papers, Northrop Grumman attorneys denied Mendez’s allegations and said the company has “well-established policies, practices and procedures in place to accommodate disabilities … and to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation.”
According to Mendez’s suit, he was hired in as an aircraft mechanic in May 2020 in the Palmdale plant and at the beginning of the next year two male bosses began sexually harassing him.
“His supervisors would make unsolicited sexual comments and touch plaintiff’s buttocks and genitals,” according to the suit, which further alleged 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 stated.
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 stated.
Mendez was terminated in April 2023 because he took time off to care for his ill son, who Northrop Grumman knew had a condition that “limited major life activities,” according to the complaint.