In April 2026, Erin Lynn Jeffreys sued Lockheed Martin under the under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act.
Jeffreys, who joined Lockheed in 2007 as a systems engineer, has scoliosis and has lived with chronic pain after a failed spinal fusion and second surgery in 2012.
"Starting in 2011, she says, a series of managers approved remote work, first part of the week, then part-time, then fully remote during the pandemic. In 2022, she claims the company even blessed her move from Fort Worth to Chicago, with her then-manager telling her that "you moving doesn't really change anything." Her performance reviews, by her account, stayed strong throughout.
"The trouble started, she says, when she asked to return to full-time hours in early 2024. HR, she alleges, discovered her accommodation paperwork was missing from her file and advised her to re-submit a formal request, calling it "a mere technicality."
The employer denied her request in October 2024, based on a company physician's opinion who never spoke with her or her treating physicians.
Jeffrey's manager had certified on an internal form that her role "never" required on-site work. Lockheed cited three reasons - insufficient records, core functions required on-site access, and again insufficient records.
Jeffrey also claims "she was questioned by staff who had no role in the medical review, denied copies of the reviewer's notes, and that her direct team lead was never consulted about workload."
In January 2025, Jeffreys alleges she was moved to 28 hours a week (a 30 percent pay cut), while absorbing a departed colleague's work. Meanwhile, she alleges four non-disabled colleagues stayed fully remote on the same program.
On the evening she filed her EEOC charge in September 2025, "her manager proposed she begin submitting Daily Activity Reports logging every task and the time charged, something, she says, no other remote teammate was asked to do."
Jeffreys is seeking her full-time remote work back, lost pay, and damages. Lockheed Martin has not answered the allegations.
Tez Romero "Engineer sues Lockheed Martin over yanked remote work accommodation" hcamag.com(Apr. 21, 2026).
Commentary
The employer faces potential ADA liability. Participating in a good faith, interactive process with the employee and the employee's healthcare providers is key to avoiding risk.
When an employee first asks for accommodations, and before modifying existing accommodations, engage in an interactive process the purpose of which is to consider the employee's disability, how if limits them, their essential functions, and any reasonable accommodations of the limitations to allow them to perform their job. When an employee has been successfully performing their job for years, to modify the accommodations in place would require a showing of undue hardship - significant difficulty or expense - considering several factors.
Factors can include the nature and cost of the accommodation in relation to the size, resources, nature, and structure of the employer's operation.
