Meta Sued Over AI Layoff Tools That Allegedly Targeted Disabled and Pregnant Workers

Twenty-six (26) current and former Meta employees have filed a federal lawsuit accusing the company of using AI to help decide whom to lay off during its May job cuts. They claim the system unfairly selected workers with disabilities, those who had taken medical leave, and pregnant employees.

This lawsuit is believed to be the first major case of its kind against a large US technology company.

The tools used in these job cuts included "Metamate," the company's AI assistant, an employee monitoring system described as a "second brain," and a productivity scoring system that tracked factors such as keystrokes, screen activity, emails, and browser history to rank workers.

According to the Associated Press, the suit argues that those scores couldn't reasonably account for employees who were legally absent on protected medical or family leave, or whose output dropped because of a disability, and that Meta didn't pause or adjust the system for those cases.

Meta Lays Off 700 Employees While Executives Could Earn up to $921 Million Each in Stock

The layoffs and a new executive stock program arrived within 24 hours of each other as Meta continues redirecting its resources toward artificial intelligence.

TechloyDamilare Odedina