A group of 26 employees of Meta has taken legal action against the company, alleging that it employed artificial intelligence tools to target individuals on medical, parental, or family leave for layoffs. These employees are part of the 8,000 workers, representing around 10% of Meta’s workforce, who were slated for layoffs in May.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Oakland, California, asserts that Meta utilized internal AI systems, keystroke and activity-monitoring data, AI token-usage dashboards, and algorithmic performance evaluations to determine the layoffs. The legal filing claims that certain scores and ratings could not be achieved by employees on protected leave, leading to their unfair selection for termination.
The lawsuit further alleges that Meta did not consider protected leave when assessing employees’ performance and failed to conduct the required individualized review for those on leave or requiring accommodations due to disabilities. Consequently, individuals on protected medical or family leave were disproportionately affected by the layoffs.
Although the 26 employees involved in the lawsuit have been informed of their impending layoffs, they are currently still employed by Meta, with separations scheduled to commence on July 22. Many of these workers had taken parental or pregnancy leave, during which their productivity metrics were naturally reduced. Additionally, some had taken medical leave, with one employee disclosing a serious health condition approved by Meta’s medical provider.
The lawsuit highlights instances where employees were dissuaded from taking leave, with one individual being warned by a manager that doing so would increase the likelihood of being laid off. Meta allegedly provided no accommodation for this employee’s disability. The legal action claims that the layoffs violated various state and federal laws, including the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
In response to the allegations, Meta issued a statement denying the claims, stating that decisions regarding workforce management were made by people, not AI. The lawsuit seeks to halt the separations until arbitration is completed to prevent irreversible harm to the affected workers, such as loss of health coverage, forfeiture of equity, and triggering of immigration consequences.