The lawsuit, filed in Oakland, California federal court, says Meta relied on factors such as productivity and AI token usage when it began slashing thousands of jobs earlier this year, disadvantaging people who missed work because of medical conditions. Plaintiffs also allege the system penalised workers who took leave to care for family members.
The 26 plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit anonymously, are accusing Meta of violating federal and state laws that ban discrimination or retaliation against workers who have disabilities, take medical leave or are pregnant.
The plaintiffs, who were notified in May that their jobs would be eliminated starting on July 22, are seeking a preliminary ruling from the court blocking Meta from completing the layoffs while they pursue their claims in private arbitration. The workers say Meta's agreements require employees to arbitrate workplace disputes individually, but do not apply to requests for temporary relief.
Meta has denied the allegations, with a spokesperson telling Reuters: "Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI."
The lawsuit appears to be the first against a major U.S. company to challenge the alleged use of AI in conducting layoffs. Meta laid off 10% of its global workforce in May, or nearly 8,000 people, and was planning more job cuts later this year, though CEO Mark Zuckerberg has since said he does not expect any more company-wide layoffs this year.
Plaintiffs in the suit, who come from several states including California, New York and the District of Columbia, claim Meta violated federal and state laws banning discrimination or retaliation against workers who have disabilities, take medical leave or are pregnant.
For working professionals, the case raises a direct question about how employers use AI in performance management: metrics designed to measure output may structurally disadvantage anyone who takes protected leave, without any individual manager making a deliberate decision to discriminate.
