Some 26 employees of Meta Platforms have filed a lawsuit accusing the tech company of using AI-powered software to target specific staff for mass layoffs.
The workers are accusing Meta of using tools that disproportionately target people with disabilities and those who took sick leave.
One of the plaintiffs is a scientist who says she was on an approved pre-natal maternity leave when she was notified of her layoff, just two days before giving birth.
Another, an engineer, claimed he received a low ranking due to the sick leave he took for an injury.
Meanwhile, a manager was 16 days into his medical leave before he was let go, he alleged.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court on July 13 in Oakland, California, alleges Meta relied on factors such as productivity and monitored workers’ activity to help decide which employees to dismiss.
According to the lawsuit, Meta used internal AI-assisted systems to score and rank employees. These systems included ‘Metamate’, a large language model assistant, and an employee-trained ‘second brain’ which tracked workers’ communications and documents.
Meta also allegedly generated productivity scores via scanning keystrokes, screen content, emails, and browser history.
Employees also claim that Meta launched the monitoring programme and announced it to employees through a ‘low visibility internal post – made by an engineer rather than a senior leader’.
‘On at least some teams, employees received no consent or acknowledgement prompt at all, and, at least initially, there was no way to opt out.’
The plaintiffs were told in May that their jobs would be cut starting from July 22. Before this date, they are asking the court to block Meta from completing the layoffs while they privately pursue their claims.
Meta’s employee agreements require workers to deal with workplace disputes individually, but the employees say this does not apply to their request for temporary relief.
The employees, who filed the lawsuit anonymously, accuse Meta of violating federal and state laws banning discrimination or retaliation against workers who have disabilities, take medical leave, or are pregnant.
They also claim that Meta failed to test its AI systems for bias in violation of recently adopted California and New York City law.
In the 71-page filing, the plaintiffs argue: ‘The result was that employees who took protected leaves were disproportionately selected for layoff, based on scoring that not only failed to account for their protected leaves, but in effect penalised the employees for exercising their legal rights to these leaves’.
The 26 plaintiffs are based across six states, including California and New York City.
A Meta spokesperson told Metro: ‘These claims lack merit and are not based on fact.
‘Workforce management and organisational decisions were and are made by people, not AI.’
This lawsuit is thought to be the first to challenge the alleged use of AI in conducting layoffs.
Meta laid off around 10% of its global workforce in May, affecting nearly 8,000 employees. Reuters previously reported that the company was planning more, a claim CEO Mark Zuckerberg has since denied.
The changes come as Meta increases its AI investments and makes AI the focus of its product offerings and its internal approach to work.
The legal implications of using AI to make key decisions in the workplace have attracted increasing scrutiny over fears surrounding privacy and trust.
States such as California, Colorado and Illinois have passed regulations in recent years to protect workers from AI-related bias and ‘automated decision systems.’
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