In a groundbreaking legal challenge, Meta is facing allegations of using artificial intelligence to unfairly target employees for layoffs. A group of 26 current and former employees has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of California claiming that Meta’s AI systems disproportionately affected workers with disabilities and those who took protected medical or family leaves.
The lawsuit, filed yesterday, marks what appears to be the first legal action against a major US company for using AI in workforce reductions. The plaintiffs allege that Meta’s internal AI tools, including a system called Metamate were used to score, rank, and select employees for termination, without considering individual circumstances or the impact on protected groups.
Allegations of Bias and Discrimination
The 71-page complaint details how Meta’s AI systems used a variety of metrics to evaluate employees, including performance ratings, productivity, and output metrics. The plaintiffs argue that these metrics inherently disadvantage employees who have taken time off for protected reasons, such as medical or family leave, or who have disabilities that affect their output.
“Meta did not assemble the termination list through the considered judgment of managers who knew the work,” the lawsuit states. “Instead, Meta used a constellation of internal artificial-intelligence systems—including a system referred to internally as ‘Metamate,’ employee-trained ‘second-brain’ agents, keystroke- and activity-monitoring data, AI-token-usage dashboards, and algorithmically assisted performance ranking and calibration—to score, rank, and select employees for inclusion on the list.”
The plaintiffs also allege that Meta classified employees based on their adoption of AI tools, using categories such as ‘AI Native,’ ‘AI First,’ and ‘AI Enabled.’ This classification system, they argue, further exacerbated the bias against employees who were not able to fully utilize these tools due to their protected status.
The Role of Employee Monitoring
The lawsuit also sheds light on Meta’s extensive employee monitoring program, which was deployed earlier this year. This program captured a wide range of data, including keystrokes, screen content, mouse activity, browser history, messages, emails, and location data from company-issued devices. The data gathered through this program was then used to build AI tools, including by a new engineering organization to which employees were reassigned on a non-optional basis.
The plaintiffs claim that the deployment of the monitoring program was announced through a low-visibility internal post by an engineer rather than a senior leader, with little notice and no consent or click-through acknowledgment. This lack of transparency, they argue, further underscores the company’s disregard for employee rights and privacy.
Meta’s Response and Legal Implications
Meta has denied the allegations, stating that workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI. “These claims lack merit and are not based on facts,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement provided to Ars today. Meta did not provide any other comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit raises significant legal questions about the use of AI in employment decisions. If the plaintiffs’ allegations are proven true, it could set a precedent for how companies use AI in workforce management, particularly in relation to protected classes of employees. The case is being heard by US District Judge William Orrick a Barack Obama appointee.
The plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary injunction to block their terminations, which are set to take effect on July 22, while they pursue individual claims in arbitration. They also allege that Meta failed to test its AI systems for bias in violation of recently adopted California and New York City laws that regulate AI in employment decisions.
