Cleared engineer points to a tight termination timeline and a shifting reason for his firing
A former AT&T Technical Services engineer with a Top Secret clearance says the company fired him for flagging slurs and suspected fraud.
Benjamin Balfour, a former Lead Network Design Engineer, filed a First Amended Complaint on May 6, 2026, in the Eastern District of Virginia, accusing AT&T Technical Services Company of wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment.
Balfour, who identifies in the complaint as white and Christian, joined AT&T Technical Services in February 2022 and worked on a team supporting the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Virginia. He was fired effective August 28, 2024.
According to the complaint, his trouble began after he transferred to the Tier II team in late 2022. He alleges that four colleagues regularly made remarks about how "racist and oppressive white people are," along with slurs targeting Christianity. Balfour says he asked them to stop more than a dozen times. The comments, the filing alleges, escalated.
In June 2023, he raised the issue with HR. Balfour alleges the HR representative who handled the matter, Aeri Kim, called him after her investigation and said, "its just workplace culture and you need to learn to get along," or words to that effect. The harassment continued, he says.
A second dispute followed in 2024. From March to August, Balfour says he raised concerns with his supervisor, Ricky Taylor, that members of a co-worker's team were leaving early or watching movies during work hours while still billing time on a federal contract. The complaint alleges management declined to investigate, citing "bad optics" with the government client.
By late July, Balfour says he had told his team - including the team's lead tech, Natharkan "Sandy" Lockwood-Tanloet - that he intended to take the issue to the Office of Inspector General.
What happened next forms the spine of the retaliation claim. On August 7, 2024, Lockwood filed an internal HR complaint against Balfour. On August 13, the complaint says, he was placed on "terminated pending investigation" status within 24 hours of being notified of that complaint. On August 27, Director Dan Butler informed him he was being fired for allegedly making inappropriate comments of a sexual nature, which Balfour denies. The filing says the company's stated reason shifted from alleged political speech to alleged sexual misconduct - language the complaint characterizes as a sign of pretext.
The complaint also describes a June 2024 mandatory conference call led by AT&T Technical Services Vice President Jill Singer, who, the filing says, addressed widespread vulgarity in the workplace. Immediately after the call, Balfour alleges, Lockwood turned to face him and said, "Hey Ben! Go Fuck yourself," while raising her middle finger. According to the complaint, when he asked why, she responded, "Ha! Because Jill said we're not supposed to!"
Balfour brings 12 counts. Against AT&T Technical Services, he alleges discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment under Title VII, Section 1981, and the Virginia Human Rights Act, plus retaliatory discharge under the Virginia Whistleblower Protection Law and respondeat superior. He brings an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim against Lockwood individually.
For HR leaders, the timeline carries the lesson. Balfour says he received a letter of commendation from Lockwood in April 2023, and the complaint states his January 2024 performance review showed him exceeding all expectations. The filing says he had no history of discipline before engaging in protected activity. The first formal complaint against him, the complaint says, came about a week after he openly stated his intent to report suspected fraud externally - the kind of close timing that draws scrutiny in retaliation analysis.
The handling of the 2023 HR complaint is also likely to attract attention. The filing frames the alleged "workplace culture" response as a failure to take prompt or effective remedial action and points to it as proof the company was on notice. For HR teams, the takeaway is straightforward: closing out an investigation without documented corrective steps can come back as a central exhibit in a lawsuit.
Balfour is seeking back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, attorney fees, and injunctive relief. He has demanded a jury trial.
The allegations have not been tested in court. AT&T Technical Services and Lockwood have not yet filed a response, and no court has ruled on the merits.
