Lawsuit Accuses NASA of Widespread Racial Discrimination

Ben Robbins, a lead aerospace engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, is heading up a class action lawsuit against the agency. He says the agency’s internal performance rating system appears to show Black employees being scored lower across the board, leading to them missing out on advancement opportunities. An administrative judge has certified its class status, meaning that Robbins and his colleague Alfred Fordan are allowed to represent Black and Asian-American NASA employees, respectively. The goal of the suit is get back wages for past damages — and changes in the evaluation process to ‘eliminate or at least reduce the disparities going forward’ A NASA spokesperson said that the agency is committed to its diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility goals and ensuring all agency employees are treated fairly. . . .