Meta is currently embroiled in a legal battle as several employees have filed a lawsuit claiming the company used artificial intelligence to determine which workers would be laid off, allegedly targeting those on maternity leave, medical leave, or with disabilities. The lawsuit, lodged in a federal court in California, accuses Meta of employing AI-driven performance assessments and employee activity data to decide which staff members would be part of a workforce reduction impacting approximately 8,000 employees earlier this year.
The legal complaint suggests that Meta’s internal AI systems were utilized to evaluate and rank employees, bypassing traditional manager assessments. The plaintiffs assert that these AI systems failed to consider approved leave periods, which led to unfairly low performance scores for those who had taken family or medical leave or who required disability accommodations. Among the plaintiffs is a scientist who was notified of her termination just two days before giving birth, an engineer whose performance rating reportedly suffered due to his absence while recovering from an injury, and a manager who claims he was laid off shortly after beginning medical leave.
In their lawsuit, the employees are seeking a judicial order to pause the layoffs as the case unfolds. They are also requesting reinstatement, compensation for lost wages and benefits, and an independent examination of Meta’s AI systems. Meta, however, has refuted the allegations, maintaining that decisions regarding workforce and organizational changes are made by human managers rather than AI systems.
This legal action highlights the growing concerns about the use of AI in workplace decision-making processes, particularly the potential for automated systems to introduce bias against employees who exercise their rights to legally protected leave. Critics warn that such systems might inadvertently discriminate against these individuals, raising significant ethical and legal issues that need to be addressed.