A group of 26 Meta employees have decided to file a lawsuit against the tech giant, accusing it of using artificial intelligence systems to identify workers to be fired under the plan announced in May, disproportionately targeting those who were on leave for health, parental or family reasons.
Meta under accusation
According to the Associated Press, the lawsuit was filed in federal court in Oakland, California, and concerns the cutting of approximately 8,000 jobs, equal to approximately 10% of the company’s overall workforce. According to workers, the company used internal AI systems, typing and activity tracking data, AI token usage dashboards, and algorithm-based performance rankings, among others, to determine who would be fired. These criteria, lawyers argue, would have inevitably penalized those who were on medical, parental or family leave, since during such periods work activity and productivity indicators are reduced or completely absent.
The fired workers
Many of the claimants have taken maternity or parental leave. Others took sick leave. An employee declared a “serious health condition and disability” that had been duly approved by Meta’s benefits provider. According to the complaint, a manager even dissuaded him from taking leave, warning him that doing so would result in his being selected for the planned layoffs. Although they have been informed of the dismissal, all are still employed by Meta, with terminations of employment expected from 22 July.
The company’s response
For its part, Meta rejected all accusations through an official note: “These are baseless accusations and not based on facts. Decisions relating to personnel management and organization have been and continue to be taken by people, not by artificial intelligence”.