Does Lockheed Martin hire people with felonies?

What Lockheed Martin has said

Lockheed Martin has not published a policy on hiring people with criminal records, and it is not on the Second Chance Business Coalition member list. Its hiring-process page says candidates who are selected go through a role-specific background check before the company moves on to an offer and onboarding. Many Lockheed Martin jobs also require a U.S. security clearance or U.S. citizenship; those are federal government requirements, covered separately below, and are not Lockheed Martin's own hiring policy.

We didn't find a public statement from Lockheed Martin about hiring people with records: not on its careers site, in its reports, or in its announcements. That doesn't mean it won't hire you. It means there's nothing on the record to point to.

Does Lockheed Martin do background checks?

Lockheed Martin runs background checks before an offer. Lockheed Martin's hiring-process page says that if you are selected you will go through a role-specific background check, and that once it is done the company moves on to your offer and onboarding, so the page places the check after selection and before the offer. It adds that background checks and security clearances can take time and vary by role. It does not say what the check covers, how far back it looks, who runs it or how records are weighed. One Archbald, Pennsylvania assembler posting says the job requires a pre-employment drug and background screen before the start date.^1,2

• How long a background check takes

Does Lockheed Martin drug test?

Lockheed Martin drug tests for some roles. The one Archbald, Pennsylvania assembler posting we read that mentions it says the job requires a pre-employment drug and background screen. One Trumbull, Connecticut aircraft mechanic posting cites federal drug-testing rules for safety-sensitive aviation work (see role notes). We did not see a drug-test statement in most postings, and Lockheed Martin has not published a company-wide policy.^2,3

Rules for specific jobs

• Jobs that require a U.S. security clearance

  (federal rule) Lockheed Martin's cleared-candidates page says clearances are granted by the federal government, must be requested for a specific job, and come in three levels that involve different background investigations; many postings say the selected candidate must have or be able to obtain a Secret or higher clearance. Lockheed Martin does not decide clearances; the federal rules on criminal conduct are in the next note.⁴

• Jobs that require a U.S. security clearance (federal adjudication rules)

  (federal rule) The national adjudicative guidelines, Security Executive Agent Directive 4 (in effect since June 8, 2017), treat criminal conduct as a security concern (Guideline J). Conditions that can be disqualifying include a pattern of minor offenses, evidence of criminal conduct whether or not the person was charged or convicted, being on parole or probation, and violating parole or probation. Conditions that can lessen the concern include enough time having passed, or unusual circumstances, so the conduct is unlikely to recur, and evidence of successful rehabilitation, such as time without new offenses, restitution, completing parole or probation, job training or education, a good work record or community involvement. Under the Bond Amendment, which the directive includes, someone convicted of a crime in a U.S. court, sentenced to more than a year and imprisoned for at least a year cannot be granted access to the highest-level programs (SCI, special access programs or restricted data) unless the agency grants a waiver. These are federal rules, separate from Lockheed Martin's own hiring decisions.⁵

• Roles involving explosives or other ATF-regulated items

  (federal rule) Two Manufacturing Planner postings in Troy, Alabama say the candidate must be able to pass a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives background check to be approved as an employee possessor under ATF regulations.⁶

• Safety-sensitive aviation jobs

  (federal rule) A Mechanic A&P posting in Trumbull, Connecticut says the job is safety sensitive and that Federal Aviation Administration rules require participation in a drug-testing program covering marijuana, opioids, cocaine, amphetamines and phencyclidine.³

Your rights, and how far back a check can go

• Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), an employer must get your written permission before it gets a background report about you from a background screening company.^8,9,10
• Before an employer decides not to hire, keep, or promote you because of something in a background report, it must give you a copy of the report and a document called "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act."^8,9
• You have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in your background report directly with the company that made it.^8,11
• The FCRA's seven-year limit does not apply to criminal convictions, so under federal law a conviction can show up on a background report no matter how old it is.^12,13
• Under the FCRA, background and credit reports generally cannot include arrest records, civil lawsuits, or civil judgments that are more than seven years old (or older than the statute of limitations, if that is longer).^12,14

Your full background check rights

Before you apply

• You can ask a background screening company for the information it has on you, and the CFPB keeps a list of consumer reporting companies, including employment screening companies, with their contact details.^8,11,15
• According to the Clean Slate Initiative, 14 states and Washington, D.C. have passed Clean Slate laws that meet its criteria for automatically clearing eligible records: Pennsylvania, Utah, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, Delaware, Virginia, California, Oklahoma, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Illinois, and Missouri, plus D.C.¹⁶
• The Federal Bonding Program, run by the U.S. Department of Labor, lets states give employers free fidelity bonds that protect them against losses from a newly hired worker's dishonest acts, for job seekers with past justice involvement or in recovery from substance use.^17,18

See whether you can clear your record in your state