07-28-2026
Employer Insight: Twenty-six employees filed a lawsuit against Meta, alleging the company used AI to target them for layoffs while they were on leave. The company allegedly laid off employees on medical, parental, or family leave disproportionately. The plaintiffs have asked for a preliminary ruling blocking Meta from finalizing the layoffs on July 22 as planned, while they pursue arbitration. Meta employees agree to arbitrate employment claims when hired. These plaintiffs come from six states, including California and New York.
In May, Meta announced 8,000 employee layoffs, approximately 10% of its workforce. The recently filed lawsuit includes claims that the company used internal AI systems, activity-monitoring, AI token-usage dashboards, and algorithms to select employees for layoffs. A productivity score was purportedly calculated from scanning keystrokes, screen content, emails, and browser history. Employees on work leave or with disabilities would naturally have reduced productivity scores and ratings compared to other employees. The 26 plaintiffs claim the company did not account for protected leaves in these AI methods and productivity scores, violating the law by failing to pause the system for “individualized, leave and accommodation-neutral review.” As a consequence, the layoff selection process unfavorably impacted employees on leave status.
One employee on medical leave said Meta’s health provider approved his leave. He was, however, “discouraged and deterred from taking that leave by a manager.” This manager told the employee that the leave could result in his selection for layoff.
Meta issued a statement that the claims “lack merit and are not based on facts. Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI.”