Meta's Layoff AI Scored Workers on Medical Leave as Low Performers, 26 Say in Suit
26 Meta workers allege internal AI, keystroke logs, and token-usage dashboards ranked people on protected leave as low output, then fed them into the 8,000-job cut.
"Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI."
AP via Fortune, Barbara Ortutay and Alexandra Olson
Twenty-six Meta employees filed suit in federal court in Oakland, alleging the company leaned on internal AI systems, keystroke and activity monitoring, AI token-usage dashboards, and algorithmic performance rankings to pick who landed in the 8,000-person layoff. The complaint alleges those scores by design cannot be earned by someone on protected medical or family leave, so workers out for pregnancy, disability, or a serious health condition got logged as low output and swept into the cut, with separations set to begin July 22. Meta responded that the claims “lack merit and are not based on facts,” and said workforce decisions were made by people, not AI. The allegations are unproven, and the plaintiffs are asking a judge to freeze the terminations before health coverage and leave rights vanish for good. Fortune on the Meta layoff lawsuit
Source: AP via Fortune, Barbara Ortutay and Alexandra Olson · Barbara Ortutay, Alexandra Olson
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