Meta is facing a lawsuit from employees who claim the company used AI-powered tools to select workers for mass layoffs. The employees alleged that these systems unfairly affected people with disabilities and those who took medical leave. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Oakland, California, by 26 employees. According to the complaint, Meta used factors such as employee productivity and AI token usage while deciding which jobs to cut. The workers claimed this approach put employees who missed work due to medical conditions or family care duties at a disadvantage, reports Reuters.
The employees who filed the lawsuit were informed in May that their jobs would be eliminated starting July 22. They are now asking the court to temporarily stop Meta from completing the layoffs while their claims go through private arbitration.
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Meta has denied the allegations. A company spokesperson said the claims lack merit. “Workforce management and organisational decisions were and are made by people, not AI,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying in the report.
The case appears to be the first lawsuit against a major US company challenging the alleged use of AI in making layoff decisions. Meta reportedly cut around 10 percent of its global workforce in May. This affected nearly 8,000 employees. The layoffs came as the company increased its investment in AI.
The employees behind the lawsuit have filed their claims anonymously. They are from six states, including California and New York, as well as the District of Columbia.
In the complaint, the workers accused Meta of breaking federal and state laws that protect employees with disabilities, those who take medical leave and pregnant workers. They also allege that Meta failed to properly test its AI systems for bias under newer laws in California and New York City.
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According to the lawsuit, Meta used several internal AI-assisted systems to score and rank workers for a termination list. The lawsuit named Metamate, a large language model assistant, as one of the tools used. It also referred to an employee-trained “second brain” that allegedly tracked workers’ communications and documents. Meta even used a productivity score based on information such as keystrokes, screen content, emails and browser history, as per the complaint.