26 currently employed women and men at Meta have filed a lawsuit against their employer in a federal court in Oakland, California. They accuse the company of using an internal AI system to selectively choose employees on parental, caregiving, or medical leave during the layoffs of approximately 8,000 positions announced in May. Their own terminations are set to take effect on July 22.
Lawsuit lists examples from the layoff round
The lawsuit filed on July 14 describes, based on a report from the Wall Street Journal, several cases from the current layoff round. Eight plaintiffs were on maternity or pregnancy leave, four plaintiffs were on parental leave, and one plaintiff was on family and bereavement leave. Another plaintiff was discouraged by their manager from taking an approved medical leave because otherwise, they would have been suggested for the layoffs. The lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that once the terminations take effect, damages such as the loss of employer-sponsored health insurance during pregnancy or recovery cannot be reversed.
According to the complaint, Meta relies on internal AI systems that analyze activity and keyboard data, dashboards for the use of AI tools, and algorithmically supported performance evaluations for the selection process. These metrics inherently cannot capture who shows less visible work performance due to a leave of absence or disability—a design flaw that structurally disadvantages employees during protected times. The lawsuit is based, among other things, on the Family and Medical Leave Act, the prohibition of discrimination against people with disabilities, the protection of pregnant employees, and the doctrine of indirect discrimination enshrined in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Meta denies the allegations
A company spokesperson stated to several U.S. media outlets, including Fox Business and CBS News, that the allegations are baseless. Personnel and organizational decisions at Meta are made by people, not software. The company did not comment on the specific role the mentioned AI dashboards played in the decision-making of individual managers. The plaintiffs are not seeking a new employment relationship but initially only the temporary retention of their employment until an arbitration process has resolved the actual allegations.
The case is part of a growing number of lawsuits questioning the use of algorithmic tools in personnel decisions. The IT company IBM is also facing a lawsuit over allegedly age-discriminatory AI selection processes at a location in Austin, according to U.S. media reports. Both cases raise the same fundamental question: How do companies prove that automated metrics do not indirectly discriminate based on age, disability, or parenthood? Labor lawyers are therefore observing the proceedings beyond the individual case. A ruling or settlement in this case could serve as a reference point for similar lawsuits against other technology companies.
It will be crucial whether a court issues a temporary injunction before July 22 and temporarily suspends the planned terminations of the 26 plaintiffs. For Meta, it is also in question whether the already controversial layoffs of approximately 8,000 positions will now also become a legal precedent for the AI-supported use of performance data in terminations.
