Twenty-six Meta workers allege AI-assisted layoff discrimination — company says people made decisions
TL;DR
Twenty-six Meta workers allege AI-assisted layoff scoring penalized leave and disability; Meta denies AI made decisions.
Twenty-six anonymous Meta employees sued in federal court in Oakland, California, on July 13, alleging that the company used AI-assisted data to select workers for layoffs and disproportionately affected employees with disabilities or protected leave. The complaint cites keystroke and activity monitoring, AI token-usage dashboards and algorithmically assisted performance rankings. The court has not established which tools Meta used.
The plaintiffs allege that employees on pregnancy, parental, medical or family-care leave could not accumulate the same output scores and that Meta did not remove protected absences from the rankings. The complaint says all 26 took protected leave or requested or received a disability accommodation. Eight women took maternity or pregnancy-related leave, and four men took parental leave.
The plaintiffs say they are among about 8,000 people, roughly 10% of Meta's global workforce, selected in layoffs announced in May. They had received termination notices but remained employed when the suit was filed, with separations scheduled to begin July 22. They seek to preserve their employment during individual arbitration and allege violations of federal and state discrimination, medical-leave and pregnancy-protection laws.
Meta said the claims “lack merit and are not based on facts” and that workforce and organizational decisions are made by people, not AI. The court has not ruled on whether Meta's layoff process used the systems alleged by the plaintiffs, whether it discriminated, or whether temporary relief should be granted.
via AP / Reuters / Ars Technica
The plaintiffs allege that employees on pregnancy, parental, medical or family-care leave could not accumulate the same output scores and that Meta did not remove protected absences from the rankings. The complaint says all 26 took protected leave or requested or received a disability accommodation. Eight women took maternity or pregnancy-related leave, and four men took parental leave.
The plaintiffs say they are among about 8,000 people, roughly 10% of Meta's global workforce, selected in layoffs announced in May. They had received termination notices but remained employed when the suit was filed, with separations scheduled to begin July 22. They seek to preserve their employment during individual arbitration and allege violations of federal and state discrimination, medical-leave and pregnancy-protection laws.
Meta said the claims “lack merit and are not based on facts” and that workforce and organizational decisions are made by people, not AI. The court has not ruled on whether Meta's layoff process used the systems alleged by the plaintiffs, whether it discriminated, or whether temporary relief should be granted.
via AP / Reuters / Ars Technica
