The 70-year-old worker claims things only got worse after he reported the incidents
A 17-year Lockheed Martin employee alleges he was called a racial slur at work — and faced escalating retaliation after reporting it.
Carnell Artis, a 70-year-old quality control inspector at a Lockheed Martin-owned Sikorsky Aircraft facility in Stratford, Connecticut, filed a federal lawsuit on March 12 claiming he was subjected to racial harassment, disability discrimination, age discrimination, and retaliation over a period of years. The case, Artis v. Lockheed Martin Corporation and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (No. 3:26-cv-00370, D. Conn.), has not yet been decided.
According to the lawsuit, a co-worker used the n-word against Artis on the factory floor in November 2023. During the same period, the co-worker allegedly grabbed Artis's cane — he uses one due to a back injury — and pretended to play golf with it, mocking both his race and his disability.
What happened next may be the part that resonates most with HR leaders. The lawsuit alleges that after Artis reported the incidents, the co-worker was not immediately removed from his work area. Artis was forced to continue working alongside the harasser for about a week, according to the filing. After a brief separation of roughly two weeks, the co-worker was placed back near Artis, where he allegedly stared and leered at him throughout the workday.
The lawsuit alleges that following his internal complaints, Artis experienced a string of retaliatory actions: repeated disconnection from a printer he needed to do his job, denial of training on a new work procedure, paychecks reflecting fewer hours than he worked, an attempt to revoke his perfect attendance award over a coding error, and a targeted search of his belongings the day after that award was restored.
After Artis filed a formal discrimination charge with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and the EEOC in May 2024, retaliation allegedly intensified. His supervisor allegedly monitored him more closely than peers, mocked his disability-affected gait, questioned his professional judgment, and cut his overtime.
The lawsuit also alleges that Artis requested permission to use a motorized scooter in the factory to help with mobility. His supervisor initially approved it, then reversed the decision without explanation. The employer later maintained that no such request had been made — a position the lawsuit says is contradicted by the record.
Perhaps the sharpest takeaway for HR teams: the lawsuit acknowledges that Lockheed Martin had formal anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies on the books. The allegation is not that those policies did not exist — it is that they were never meaningfully enforced.
The case raises claims under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and several other federal and state statutes. Artis is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, back pay, front pay, and injunctive relief. A jury trial has been requested. No determination has been made on the merits.
