- Twenty-six Meta employees have filed a lawsuit over alleged AI-assisted layoffs.
- Workers claim those on maternity leave, medical leave and disability accommodation were unfairly targeted.
- Meta says workforce decisions were made by people, not artificial intelligence.
Twenty-six current and former Meta employees have sued the social media giant, alleging that the company used artificial intelligence to help identify workers for mass layoffs, disproportionately affecting employees on maternity leave, medical leave or approved disability accommodation.
The lawsuit, filed in the federal court for the Northern District of California, centres on Meta's workforce reduction earlier this year, when around 8,000 employees were laid off. The plaintiffs argue the company relied on AI-powered systems that analysed employee performance, productivity and activity data to decide who would lose their jobs, rather than leaving the decision to managers familiar with their work.
According to the 71-page complaint, Meta allegedly used a combination of internal AI tools, performance ratings and monitoring data, including keystrokes and workplace activity, to score and rank employees for redundancy.
The workers claim the system failed to account for periods of maternity leave, medical leave or disability accommodation, leaving those employees with lower productivity scores and making them more likely to be selected for layoffs.
Among the plaintiffs is a scientist who was reportedly informed of her redundancy just two days before giving birth while on approved pregnancy leave. Another employee said his performance rating fell after taking time off to recover from an injury, while a manager claimed he was laid off only 16 days into medical leave.
The employees are seeking an injunction to pause the layoffs while the case proceeds. They are also asking the court for reinstatement, back pay, lost share awards, benefits and other damages.
Meta rejects allegations
Meta has denied the claims, insisting that AI did not decide who was laid off.
A company spokesperson reportedly said the allegations were "without merit" and that workforce management and organisational decisions "were and are made by people, not AI."
The lawsuit also revisits Meta's internal employee-monitoring programme introduced earlier this year. According to the complaint, the system collected information including keystrokes, mouse activity, browser history, emails, messages and location data on company devices to help train the company's AI models.
The plaintiffs allege the programme was introduced without meaningful employee consent and was disclosed only through a low-profile internal post. The complaint says more than 1,600 employees later signed a petition objecting to the monitoring on privacy grounds, prompting Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to pause the initiative in June.
Lawyers representing the employees have asked the court to order an independent audit of Meta's AI systems, arguing it is necessary to determine how workers on protected leave were selected for redundancy. They have also requested that the employees remain anonymous while arbitration continues, saying their jobs are due to end on July 22, and that losing employment could result in the loss of healthcare, leave rights, equity and, in some cases, immigration status.
