Meta Platforms is facing a lawsuit from 26 former employees who allege the company used an artificial intelligence (AI) system to help select workers for dismissal during a mass layoff in May, resulting in unfair treatment of employees on health, pregnancy, or family-care leave, in violation of multiple anti-discrimination laws.
According to Reuters, the plaintiffs — who filed anonymously and come from six U.S. states and Washington, D.C. — claim that Meta relied on AI productivity scores and internal tool data, including analysis of keyboard inputs, emails, and browsing history, in its layoff decisions earlier this year. These metrics allegedly gave lower scores to employees who took sick leave, making them more likely to be included on the redundancy list. The lawsuit contends that this practice violated federal and state protections for disability, pregnancy, and statutory leave, and that Meta failed to pre-test its AI system for bias as required under California and New York City regulations.
All plaintiffs received notices in May that their positions would be eliminated effective July 22. They have requested a temporary restraining order from the court to halt the layoffs pending arbitration, arguing that the individual arbitration clauses in their employment contracts do not apply to such injunctive relief requests.
A Meta spokesperson strongly denied the allegations, calling the lawsuit "baseless" and emphasizing that all personnel decisions have always been made by people, not AI. The layoffs, which affected approximately 8,000 employees — about 10% of Meta's global workforce — are part of the company's broader AI investment and business restructuring plans. CEO Mark Zuckerberg later indicated that no further company-wide layoffs are expected this year.
The case is believed to be the first major lawsuit in the United States alleging that a large corporation used AI to select workers for layoffs, and its outcome could have far-reaching implications for the future use of AI in workplace decisions.
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