A group of 26 employees of Meta who were all informed in May, along with around 8,000 others, that they would be laid off, are suing the company saying that an AI system disproportionately targeted those on medical or family leave for layoffs.
We're moving into somewhat novel legal territory in a new lawsuit from a group of over two dozen anonymous Meta employees who contend that the company's use of AI systems to select employees for layoffs unfairly and disproportionately punished those who were on protected family, parental, or medical leave earlier this year.
As the Associated Press reports, the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Oakland on Monday, argues that Meta's use of internal AI systems, particularly keystroke and activity-monitoring data, produced scores that would naturally disadvantage employees who were on protected leave, and "whose output is reduced by a disability."
Attorneys for the employees further contend that the company "did not the [AI-based scoring] system for the individualized, leave- and accommodation-neutral review that the law requires."
All of the 26 employees represented in the case either eceived a reasonable accommodation for a disability, or were on some form of protected leave at the time the layoff decisions were made, per the AP. About half were reportedly on family or parental leave related to a pregnancy.
The suit argues that Meta is in violation of multiple state and federal laws, including the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
The suit is seeking a "preliminary injunction that would maintain the status quo" of the group's employment at Meta, "pending an independent audit of the algorithmically assisted selection process and resolution of the merits of their claims in arbitration." CNBC notes that the suit includes both current and former employees, so it's not clear how many from the May round of layoffs had already been severed from the company.
The round of 8,000 layoffs was first announced in late April, and morale at Meta has reportedly been fairly dismal for much of this year, while its profits have improved. This first round of job cuts represented around 10% of the company's workforce, and a report from mid-March suggested that CEO Mark Zuckerberg was planning to slash employee roles by another 10% within the year.
If this lawsuit moves forward, a plan to lay off another 8,000 employees based on a similar AI-scored system could be complicated. As CNBC reports, this lawsuit follows another announced last month in which hiring platform Workday is being sued in federal court over the use of AI in sorting candidates for hiring without adhering to state laws against discrimination.
That suit, originally filed in 2023, is moving forward after US District Judge Rita F. Lin ruled against Workday's motion to dismiss the suit, though Judge Lin granted a motion to dismiss a racial discrimination claim brought by the four plaintiffs involved, as Bloomberg Law reports.
**Previously: **Meta Disables Misguided AI Feature on Instagram