Meta sued by 26 ex-employees over biased AI layoff targeting

A group of 26 former Meta employees has filed a lawsuit alleging the company used biased AI tools to unfairly target workers on protected leave during mass layoffs in May. According to the suit, Meta relied on a “constellation” of internal AI systems—including an assistant called Metamate, employee-trained AI agents, and dashboards showing AI token usage—to score, rank, and select employees for termination. The plaintiffs claim these AI tools did not account for workers who were on parental or medical leave, effectively penalizing them for exercising their legal rights. The layoffs were part of Meta’s plan to cut 10 percent of its workforce, roughly 8,000 people.

Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton dismissed the allegations as meritless, stating that “workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI.” The lawsuit accuses Meta of violating federal and state laws that protect employees from termination for taking protected leave. This case highlights growing scrutiny around the use of AI in human resources, particularly when automated systems may inadvertently encode biases or fail to account for legally mandated exceptions. If the plaintiffs prevail, it could set a precedent for how companies must audit and validate AI tools used in employment decisions.