Meta faces a federal lawsuit claiming its AI-driven layoff process unfairly targeted workers who took protected leave, including medical, disability, and parental absences. Filed Monday in Oakland federal court, the suit alleges the company’s algorithms systematically flagged employees whose output dipped because they were away from work.
The legal challenge lands amid wider scrutiny of how Silicon Valley deploys artificial intelligence in workforce decisions. California lawmakers attempted to ban algorithmic discrimination in hiring and firing through AB 2930 in 2024, but the bill stalled after tech industry lobbying.
Twenty-six current and former Meta employees across California and several other states joined the suit. They lost their jobs during mass layoffs that began in May, part of a plan to cut roughly 8,000 positions globally. The plaintiffs seek court-ordered arbitration to pursue reinstatement, back pay, lost equity, and damages.
Central to the complaint: Meta’s evaluation tools tracked AI adoption, keystrokes, screen activity, browser history, and messaging to score employees. Those on leave generated no such data, which the system allegedly recorded as poor performance. One dashboard could not distinguish between a worker ignoring AI tools and someone on approved absence.
“Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI,” Meta said Wednesday, calling the claims meritless.
The complaint describes a scientist on pregnancy leave selected for termination “the day before her water broke,” and a manager cut 16 days into medical leave. Another employee allegedly lost his job two days after returning from disability leave despite an approved accommodation.
The ACLU warned in 2023 that AI screening tools risk deepening workplace discrimination based on race, sex, disability, and other protected traits. Meanwhile, Workday battles a separate 2023 suit over its own AI screening products, which plaintiffs say discriminated against job applicants.
This case could test whether companies using AI for layoff decisions can claim human oversight while algorithms shape the candidate pool.
