Ex-Meta employees sue company over AI-driven layoffs, allege discrimination
What's the story
Meta is facing a federal lawsuit from 26 former employees, who have accused the company of using AI-powered metrics to unfairly target workers for layoffs. The plaintiffs allege that these automated performance measures, including digital productivity tracking and individual AI token usage, discriminated against those with disabilities, medical conditions, or on approved leave. The lawsuit was filed in a California federal court and comes months after Meta's announcement to cut nearly 10% of its global workforce, affecting around 8,000 employees.
Allegations
Plaintiffs allege violation of federal and state employment laws
The plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit anonymously, are from six US states and the District of Columbia.
They allege that Meta violated federal and state employment laws prohibiting discrimination against employees with disabilities or those on approved family or medical leave.
The lawsuit contends that automated productivity measurements resulted in lower performance assessments for workers who had to step away from their jobs for health-related reasons.
Response
Meta rejects allegations, insists AI didn't determine layoffs
Meta has rejected the allegations, insisting that AI did not determine who would lose their jobs.
A company spokesperson said the claims lack merit and emphasized that workforce management and organizational decisions were made by people, not AI systems.
The company also clarified that automated tools were not responsible for making final layoff decisions.
Acknowledgment
Zuckerberg admits restructuring did not meet expectations
The lawsuit comes after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted during a recent internal town hall that the company's broader restructuring did not deliver the expected results.
He said executives had misjudged how quickly the company's AI agents would develop.
The restructuring involved cutting about 8,000 positions and moving nearly 7,000 employees to AI-focused teams.
Software scrutiny
CTO addresses concerns over mouse-tracking software data usage
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth also addressed concerns over the company's mouse-tracking software, which was previously paused amid reports of potential sensitive data exposure.
He said an internal review found no employee data had been used to train AI models and clarified that participation in related data collection initiatives remained optional for employees.