{"id":4736,"date":"2026-07-17T10:43:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T10:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4736"},"modified":"2026-07-17T10:43:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T10:43:57","slug":"lawsuit-accuses-meta-of-using-ai-to-target-workers-for-layoffs-who-took-medical-and-maternity-leave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4736","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit accuses Meta of using AI to target workers for layoffs who took medical and maternity leave"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Menlo Park social media giant Meta is accused in a lawsuit filed this week of using artificial intelligence to target employees for layoffs who had taken medical, disability or maternity leave.<\/p>\n

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Meta\u2019s AI tools, used for the company\u2019s 10% reduction in global staff earlier this year, drew on employees\u2019 performance ratings and use of AI that \u201cby design\u201d could not be accumulated by a worker on medical or family leave, or whose output was reduced because of a disability, the lawsuit claimed.<\/p>\n

The tools were used to evaluate employees\u2019 work and select them for \u201cinclusion on the termination list,\u201d the lawsuit filed Monday in Oakland federal court alleged.<\/p>\n

Meta on Wednesday said the claims lacked merit and were not based on facts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorkforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI,\u201d Meta said.<\/p>\n

The 26 current and former Meta staffers, from the company\u2019s offices in California and several other states, who are suing the company were ousted in mass layoffs that started in May as the company aimed to slash its workforce by 8,000, the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n

The laid-off workers are seeking a court order forcing Meta into arbitration with each of them, to negotiate potential reinstatement, back pay, lost equity and benefits, and unspecified damages.<\/p>\n

While much attention has focused on worries that employers will use AI to replace workers, this legal action puts a spotlight on companies\u2019 alleged use of the technology in staffing decisions. A 2024 California bill, AB 2930, would have banned companies from using AI tools that commit \u201calgorithmic discrimination\u201d in hiring or termination, but it died in the state legislature amid opposition from tech lobby groups.<\/p>\n

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The American Civil Liberties Association warned in 2023 that AI tools widely used to screen potential employees \u201cpose an enormous danger of exacerbating existing discrimination in the workplace based on race, sex, disability, and other protected characteristics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pleasanton business software giant Workday is fighting a 2023 lawsuit by four people claiming AI tools the company sells for screening job applicants discriminated against them and others based on race, gender, age and disability when they applied for jobs at employers using Workday\u2019s AI tools. Workday called the claim false, and said its technology \u201clooks only at job qualifications, not protected traits like race, age, or disability.\u201d<\/p>\n

A separate lawsuit against Meta filed in March alleged the company in a 2025 mass layoff terminated older workers at much higher rates than younger employees. Meta in a court filing denied the allegation.<\/p>\n

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Plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Meta include a scientist on approved pregnancy leave allegedly selected for termination \u201cthe day before her water broke.\u201d A manager was marked for dismissal while he was 16 days into a medical leave, the lawsuit claimed.<\/p>\n

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Another scientist allegedly was selected for the layoff while on paternity leave. An additional scientist, at Meta\u2019s Facebook, was selected to be terminated two days after she returned from a disability medical leave, while she had an approved disability accommodation from the company, the lawsuit alleged.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit further claims an engineer told his manager he had a serious health condition and a disability, and sought medical leave, but the manager warned him against taking the leave, saying he would lose his job in the anticipated mass layoffs, the lawsuit alleged.<\/p>\n

Meta is accused of breaking the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, along with various state laws covering employment.<\/p>\n

Among the mechanisms used by Meta\u2019s AI in evaluating workers for retention or dismissal was a system tracking their adoption and use of AI at a time when the company was pushing them to embrace the technology in their workflows, the lawsuit said. But the tracking dashboards failed to distinguish between an employee not engaging with the technology, and someone on leave, the lawsuit claimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no effort made by Meta to \u2018pause\u2019 a person\u2019s scoring when they were away from work based on excused, and even legally protected, absences,\u201d the lawsuit alleged.<\/p>\n

Also allegedly generating data used by Meta\u2019s AI to choose layoff targets was a company-wide program monitoring workers\u2019 keystrokes, screen content, browser history, messaging and email in order to train its own AI systems. An initiative prompting employees to train a personal AI agent as a \u201csecond brain\u201d also allegedly generated data fed to the termination AI.<\/p>\n

An employee on leave can\u2019t produce such data, the lawsuit claimed, \u201cand the absence of that data is recorded by the system as reduced performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Harriette Cole: I missed a few calls from my mom and she got all dramatic<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While much attention has focused on worries that employers will use AI to replace workers, this legal action puts a spotlight on companies’ alleged use of the technology in staffing decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nLawsuit accuses Meta of using AI to target workers for layoffs who took medical and maternity leave - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4736\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lawsuit accuses Meta of using AI to target workers for layoffs who took medical and maternity leave - 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