Lawsuit claims Meta AI targeted staff on medical and maternity leave
A lawsuit alleging Meta used artificial intelligence to systematically target workers on protected leave for mass layoffs underscores the mounting legal risks of algorithmic management for multinational employers.
Twenty-six Meta employees have sued the technology company in a California federal court, alleging it used a "constellation of internal artificial intelligence systems" to select them for layoffs because they took medical, maternity, or disability leave. The complaint targets Meta's workforce reduction of roughly 8,000 employees earlier this year.
The plaintiffs claim that instead of relying on managers, Meta deployed AI performance ratings and activity-monitoring data to score and rank staff. Because workers on leave generate little to no productivity data, the algorithm effectively penalized them for exercising their legal rights.
The complaint details severe human costs. One scientist on pre-birth pregnancy leave was notified of her termination two days before delivering. An engineer received a "lowered rating" due to injury leave, and a manager was dismissed 16 days into medical leave. "The result was that employees who took protected leaves were disproportionately selected for layoff," the lawsuit reads.
Meta firmly denies the allegations. "These claims lack merit and are not based on facts," a company spokesperson said. "Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI."
For European companies and investors, the dispute serves as a high-stakes case study in the liabilities of algorithmic human resources. While US states like California and Illinois are only recently passing laws to curb AI bias in employment, the European Union has already enacted stringent rules through the AI Act and GDPR. The Meta lawsuit illustrates exactly why European regulators classify AI in the workplace as "high-risk," demanding strict human oversight and transparency.
The litigation also exposes the extent of Meta's internal surveillance. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company launched a monitoring program this year to train AI models by watching "really smart people do things." The system tracked keystrokes, browser history, messages, and location data. "Meta deliberately kept the mechanics of its selection process secret from its employees," the plaintiffs' lawyers said. After more than 1,600 employees signed a privacy petition, Zuckerberg paused the program in June.
The workers' terminations are scheduled to begin on July 22. Their lawyers are asking the court to block the layoffs, keep the plaintiffs anonymous, and order an independent audit of Meta’s AI tools. "Once these separations are final, the harms are irreversible," the attorneys warned, citing the loss of health coverage during pregnancy and the forfeiture of unvested equity.
