Meta Platforms is facing a new lawsuit in California federal court. In the lawsuit, 26 employees allege that the company used an artificial intelligence system to determine who should be fired. Workers argue these programs unfairly target people with medical conditions, disabilities or who have taken medical leave, and were put at a disadvantage when thousands of jobs were cut earlier this year.
The employees, who were told in May that their jobs would end from July 11, are asking the court to block Meta from completing the layoffs pending the hearing of their claims. They claim that Meta’s internal AI tools scored and ranked staff based on productivity and system usage, penalizing those who missed work for health or family reasons.
Meta denied the claims, insisting that employees’ decisions are made by humans, not AI. Still, the case is notable because it appears to be the first major U.S. lawsuit challenging the use of AI in terminations.
Meta cut about 8,000 jobs, or about 10% of its global workforce, in May as part of a broader restructuring to focus on artificial intelligence. Plaintiffs in six states and Washington, D.C., accuse the company of violating federal and state laws protecting workers with disabilities, medical leave or pregnancy. It also alleges that Meta failed to conduct bias checks on its AI systems, as required by new laws in California and New York City.
This case highlights growing concerns about AI in workforce management. For HR departments, pressing questions about fairness, bias testing, and compliance arise when technology is used to make decisions that impact the lives of employees.
