Twenty-six Meta employees (current and former) sue the company in federal court in Oakland, California, alleging that AI-assisted systems helped determine who would be laid off and that the process disproportionately affected employees on medical, parental, disability, or family leave. The lawsuit says Meta used internal tools and metrics that influenced layoff selection, including systems allegedly used to score and rank employees, as well as productivity-related measures drawn from monitored activity such as keystrokes, screen content, and other workplace data. The plaintiffs argue that some scores and ratings could not reflect protected leave status and that the systems effectively penalized employees for taking legally protected time off.

Meta denies wrongdoing, saying layoff and workforce management decisions are made by people rather than AI. According to reporting, the employees sought an emergency order to stop the layoffs while claims proceed, but a U.S. district judge declined to block the layoffs. The court stated it could revisit its decision if the employees present additional evidence about whether and how AI was used. Layoffs at issue are scheduled to proceed in the coming weeks, with the plaintiffs remaining on payroll but reportedly losing access to company systems.