Meta sued over AI-driven layoffs that allegedly targeted workers on leave

A group of 26 former Meta employees has filed a lawsuit alleging the company used artificial intelligence systems to identify workers for termination in ways that discriminated against those on protected leave, according to details first reported by Reuters.

The lawsuit centers on Meta's May 2025 layoffs, which eliminated roughly 10 percent of the company's workforce—approximately 8,000 positions. The former employees claim Meta deployed what they describe as a "constellation" of internal AI tools to score and rank worker performance, then used those rankings to determine who would be laid off.

The core allegation

According to the complaint, Meta's AI-driven performance systems failed to account for employees who were on parental or medical leave. The lawsuit states that "employees who took protected leaves were disproportionately selected for layoff, based on scoring that not only failed to account for their protected leaves, but in effect penalized the employees for exercising their legal rights to these leaves."

The former employees identify several AI systems they say Meta used in the process, including Metamate (an internal AI assistant), employee-trained AI agents, and internal dashboards that tracked AI token usage. These tools allegedly generated performance scores that formed the basis for termination decisions.

Why it matters

This case highlights emerging legal questions about algorithmic management systems and their compliance with employment law. As companies increasingly use AI to evaluate worker performance and make personnel decisions, they face potential liability if those systems produce discriminatory outcomes—even unintentionally. Federal and state laws protect employees' rights to take medical and parental leave, and employers remain responsible for ensuring their automated systems don't violate those protections. The lawsuit could set precedent for how companies must design and audit AI tools used in workforce decisions.

Meta's response

Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton denied the allegations, telling The Verge that "these claims lack merit and are not based on facts." Clayton emphasized that "workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI."

The legal claims assert violations of federal and state laws that prohibit terminating employees for taking protected leave. The case will likely turn on whether Meta's AI systems created a disparate impact on workers exercising their legal rights to leave, and whether the company took adequate steps to prevent such outcomes.

The lawsuit was first reported by Reuters and covered by The Verge.