A group of 26 Meta employees has filed a federal lawsuit against the social media giant, alleging the company used artificial intelligence systems to identify workers for mass layoffs while disproportionately targeting those on medical, parental, or family leave. The complaint, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California’s Oakland division, challenges the company’s decision to terminate approximately 8,000 employees-roughly 10% of its workforce-in May during a broader restructuring tied to growing AI investments. The plaintiffs remain employed by Meta, with separations scheduled to begin July 22.

The 71-page complaint alleges that Meta assembled its termination list not through managerial judgment but through what workers describe as a “constellation of internal artificial intelligence systems.” These tools allegedly included AI performance ratings, keystroke and activity-monitoring data, AI token-usage dashboards, and algorithmic performance-ranking tools. The lawsuit specifically names Meta’s Metamate large language model assistant and employee-trained “second brain” agents as part of the systems used to score, rank, and select employees for layoffs.

According to the complaint, Meta’s AI tools failed to account for employees on protected medical or family leave when gathering data on performance rankings and productivity metrics. The plaintiffs argue that these measurements cannot be accumulated when workers exercise their legal rights to protected leave, and for people with disabilities, those metrics might be reduced. This created a system that allegedly penalized workers for taking legally protected time off. The result was a disproportionate selection of employees on protected leaves for layoff based on scoring that did not account for their absences.

Stories of Affected Workers Emerge

The lawsuit includes compelling individual accounts that illustrate the alleged discrimination. One plaintiff, a scientist on approved pre-birth pregnancy leave, received notification of her layoff just two days before she gave birth. Another plaintiff, an engineer, claims he received a lowered rating because of time he took off for an injury. A third employee, a manager on medical leave, also faced similar circumstances. These cases form the backbone of allegations that Meta’s AI-driven systems systematically disadvantaged workers exercising their legal rights.

The complaint reveals that each of the 26 anonymous employees in the lawsuit had taken protected leave and requested or received reasonable accommodation for disability. Approximately half the plaintiffs had taken leave for caregiving or pregnancy-related reasons, the sources indicate. One employee disclosed a serious health condition and disability that was approved by Meta’s own provider but was allegedly “discouraged and deterred from taking that leave by a manager” who warned that doing so would result in selection for the anticipated layoffs. The lawsuit claims Meta offered no accommodation for his disability.

Company Denies AI Made Workforce Decisions

“These claims lack merit. Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI,” Meta Communications Director Andy Stone said in a statement on social media platform X.

Meta firmly rejects the allegations in the lawsuit. The company maintains that human decision-makers, not artificial intelligence systems, determined which employees would be laid off during the restructuring. Stone characterized the lawsuit’s claims as not based on facts, emphasizing that people-not algorithms-made the final workforce management decisions. This defense sets up a potential legal battle over the precise role AI systems played in the layoff process and whether their use violated protections for workers on medical and family leave.

The plaintiffs seek immediate court intervention to halt Meta from finalizing the layoffs while their claims proceed through the legal system. They are requesting comprehensive relief that could include reinstatement, back pay, lost equity, benefits, and other damages. Such relief could potentially reshape how Meta conducts future workforce reductions. The lawsuit arrives as AI decision-making in the workplace becomes an increasingly contentious issue, with employees raising concerns about bias, privacy, and trust.

Growing Regulatory Scrutiny of AI in Employment

The Meta lawsuit reflects broader tensions as regulators scrutinize the legality of AI tools in employment decisions. California, Colorado, and Illinois have passed laws or regulations within the last couple of years seeking to protect workers from AI-related bias and “automated decision systems.” These state-level protections aim to ensure that technological efficiency does not override legal protections for workers exercising their rights to medical and family leave.

The complaint argues that by design, many of the scores and ratings used in Meta’s alleged AI systems cannot be accumulated by an employee who is on protected medical or family leave, or whose output is reduced by a disability. According to the lawsuit, Meta did not account for protected leave when considering employees’ scores. The company also did not pause the system for the individualized, leave- and accommodation-neutral review that the law requires, plaintiffs claim.

Implications for Technology Industry Workforce Management

Meta announced the layoffs as part of a restructuring coinciding with the company’s expanding AI investments. CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told employees earlier this month that the company’s AI-driven reorganization had not progressed as rapidly as executives had expected. The lawsuit may influence how other technology companies approach workforce management decisions. It could also shape the role artificial intelligence plays in those determinations across the industry.

The legal challenge highlights fundamental questions about the appropriate use of AI in employment decisions. As companies increasingly turn to algorithmic tools to manage large workforces, the tension between technological efficiency and worker protections intensifies. The case against Meta Platforms Inc., parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, may establish precedents for how courts evaluate AI-assisted employment decisions when those systems allegedly discriminate against workers exercising legal rights to protected leave.

The outcome of this litigation could have far-reaching consequences for the technology sector and beyond, as more employers adopt AI-driven decision-making tools. Workers’ advocates watch closely to see whether courts will impose restrictions on how companies can use artificial intelligence in workforce management, particularly when those systems may disadvantage employees who take legally protected medical and family leave or require disability accommodations.

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