Twenty-six former Meta employees have filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that biased artificial intelligence tools influenced layoff decisions. According to Reuters, all plaintiffs were affected by Meta's latest round of job cuts in May, which eliminated about 8,000 positions to offset investments in AI and data center infrastructure. The lawsuit claims Meta used a constellation of AI systems to select employees for termination, including an internal assistant called Metamate, employee-trained 'second brain' agents, AI token usage dashboards, and keystroke, mouse movement, and click monitoring data.
AI tools failed to account for medical leave or disabilities
The stated goal, per the complaint, was to identify and rank employees based on performance, productivity, and AI proficiency. However, the system allegedly did not consider employees on family or medical leave, or those whose disabilities might reduce output, because they could not use enough AI tokens or engage with company tools while away. The lawsuit invokes protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act, which explicitly prohibit considering protected leave in employment decisions. Additionally, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act forbids automated decision systems that produce disparate impact discrimination based on disability or sex.
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Meta denies allegations, defends human role in decisions
In a statement to Reuters, Meta dismissed the lawsuit as meritless, asserting that workforce management decisions have always been made by people, not AI. 'Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI,' the company said. Nevertheless, the former employees are asking the court to halt the layoff process pending an independent audit of the algorithmically assisted selection. Due to contractual terms, claims will proceed in arbitration.
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Previous surveillance and privacy violations
Reuters reported in April that Meta was recording employees' keystrokes, mouse movements, and clicks to train AI, a program that violated EU privacy laws. The company paused the program when private chats became accessible to staff. The use of similar surveillance data for layoffs is unsurprising given that earlier controversy. This case fits into a broader debate on AI ethics, highlighted by the recent UN call to ban autonomous weapons, which Secretary-General Guterres labeled 'morally repugnant'. Meanwhile, New York's year-long ban on new data centers has sparked backlash in the AI industry, showing tensions between innovation and regulation.
For more details, read the original article on Reuters.
