26 Meta employees have sued the tech giant claiming that the AI systems used to select people for layoff disproportionately targeted people on medical, parental or family leave.
The case could become one of the most significant legal tests yet of AI's role in workforce management.
In May, Meta announced they would lay off approximately 10% of their total workforce, that’s around 8000 employees total.
The complaint alleges that the company relied on a combination of AI systems, employee activity monitoring, AI token usage metrics, and algorithmically assisted performance rankings when determining who would be let go.
Employees Claim AI Penalised Protected Leave
The plaintiffs argue that any employees on approved medical, disability, pregnancy, parental, or family leave were unfairly disadvantaged because the systems measured productivity and engagement during periods when they were legally absent from work.
“By design, cannot be accumulated by an employee who is on protected medical or family leave, or whose output is reduced by a disability,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit alleges violations of several US employment laws, including the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. All 26 of the plaintiffs took protected leave and had either requested or received workplace accommodations.
According to the lawsuit, roughly half of the plaintiffs had taken leave for caregiving or pregnancy-related reasons. This includes eight women who had taken maternity leave, four men who had taken parental leave, and one woman who had taken leave to care for a family member before later taking bereavement leave.
One plaintiff reports having a "serious health condition and disability" that had been authorised through Meta's own leave provider.
The lawsuit alleges that the employee was actively discouraged from taking leave after a manager warned it could increase the likelihood of being selected in the anticipated layoffs. It also claims Meta failed to provide reasonable accommodations for the employee's disability.
Meta Denies Allegations
Meta has strongly denied the allegations. They state that the decisions on layoffs were made by managers rather than AI systems.
However, the lawsuit argues that AI-generated rankings and internal performance dashboards played a significant role in determining who was selected for layoffs, effectively embedding bias against employees who had taken legally protected leave.
The Role of Enterprise AI
The case highlights the growing challenge that faces organisations as AI becomes integrated into workforce management processes.
Algorithmic bias means AI systems may unintentionally disadvantage employees whose circumstances fall outside standard productivity patterns.
Workers often have limited visibility into how AI-generated performance scores are measured and calculated.
Companies for using AI-assisted decision-making there are obvious compliance issues leading to legal scrutiny if automated systems impact protected groups.
Regulators and courts are increasingly examining whether humans genuinely control AI-assisted employment decisions or simply approve algorithmic recommendations.
Comments ( 0 )