Ex-Meta staff sue over alleged AI bias in layoffs

Following major layoffs in May, when Meta Platforms cut 10 per cent of its global workforce, 26 former employees have filed a lawsuit accusing the tech giant of using AI-powered software that unfairly targeted people with disabilities and those who took medical or family leave.

Lawsuit alleges AI biased layoff decisions

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Oakland, California, accuses Meta of violating federal and state laws, including the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

According to the complaint, Meta used several internal AI-assisted systems to score and rank employees for redundancy. These systems allegedly included "Metamate", a large language model assistant; an employee-trained "second brain" that tracked workers' communications and documents; and a productivity score derived from scanning keystrokes, screen content, emails and browser history.

Many of these scores and ratings "by design, cannot be accumulated by an employee who is on protected medical or family leave, or whose output is reduced by a disability", the lawsuit says. It alleges Meta failed to account for protected leave when assessing employees' scores and "did not pause the system for the individualized, leave- and accommodation-neutral review that the law requires". As a result, employees on protected medical or family leave were allegedly selected for redundancy at disproportionately high rates.

A Meta spokesperson rejected the allegations, saying: "Workforce management and organisational decisions were and are made by people not AI in conducting layoffs."

The lawsuit asks the court to preserve the status quo by keeping the workers employed pending arbitration, arguing that "once these separations are final, the harms are irreversible: employer-subsidized health coverage lost during pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and active medical treatment; time-bound leave rights extinguished; unvested equity forfeited; and immigration consequences triggered."

AI-driven restructuring accelerates across big tech

Across the technology industry, AI-driven restructuring has contributed to major job cuts, with 111,000 layoffs across 137 companies so far this year, putting the sector on track to surpass last year's total of 125,000 job losses.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg addressed the company's transition in a company-wide memo, saying: "AI is the most consequential technology of our lifetimes. The companies that lead the way will define the next generation."

The reorganisation includes cutting about 8,000 jobs, leaving approximately 6,000 vacant positions unfilled and reassigning 7,000 employees to AI-focused roles, according to NBC News. Combined with previous transfers and role eliminations, the restructuring is expected to ultimately affect about 20 per cent of Meta's workforce, Reuters reported.

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AI Artificial Intelligence Meta Business