Twenty-six employees claim AI-assisted tools unfairly targeted workers with disabilities and those who took medical leave
Twenty-six current and former employees have filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms, accusing the company of using AI-powered software that disproportionately selected workers with disabilities, those on medical leave and pregnant employees during its latest round of job cuts.
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Oakland, California, alleges that Meta relied on AI-assisted systems to rank employees before eliminating thousands of jobs earlier this year. The plaintiffs are seeking a court order to temporarily halt the layoffs while their claims proceed through private arbitration.
Employees Allege AI Influenced Layoff Decisions
According to the complaint, Meta used several internal AI-assisted tools to score and rank employees marked for termination.
These reportedly included “Metamate”, Meta’s internal large language model assistant, an employee-built “second brain” designed to organise workplace communications and documents, and a productivity scoring system that analysed factors such as keystrokes, screen activity, emails, browser history and AI token usage.
The employees argue that these systems unfairly penalised workers who had taken medical leave or time off to care for family members, resulting in discriminatory outcomes.
They also claim Meta failed to adequately test its AI systems for bias, allegedly violating recently introduced AI discrimination laws in California and New York City.
Meta Rejects Allegations
Meta has strongly denied the claims.
A company spokesperson said workforce decisions were made by people rather than artificial intelligence.
“Workforce management and organisational decisions were and are made by people, not AI,” the spokesperson said.
Meta described the lawsuit as lacking merit.
First Major AI Layoff Lawsuit
Legal experts believe the case could become one of the first major lawsuits against a large US technology company challenging the alleged use of AI in workforce reduction decisions.
The 26 anonymous plaintiffs come from six US states and Washington, D.C., and accuse Meta of violating federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination and retaliation against employees with disabilities, those taking medical leave and pregnant workers.
Part Of Meta’s AI Restructuring
Meta laid off around 10% of its global workforce—nearly 8,000 employees—in May as part of a broader restructuring aimed at accelerating its AI ambitions.
The company has significantly increased investment in artificial intelligence, integrating AI agents across its products and internal operations.
Although Reuters had previously reported that additional job cuts were planned, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has since said Meta does not expect any further company-wide layoffs this year.
If successful, the lawsuit could set an important legal precedent for how companies deploy AI in employment decisions and whether employers can be held liable for alleged algorithmic bias during workforce restructuring.
(with inputs from Reuters)