Current and former employees sue Meta, alleging discrimination in its use of artificial intelligence to lay off employees
A group of current and former Meta employees jointly filed a lawsuit against the social media company, accusing Meta of using artificial intelligence in the latest round of layoffs and implementing discriminatory layoffs. The complaint was filed on Monday. The plaintiffs claim that Meta violated multiple protected leave regulations, the Pregnancy and Disability Anti-Discrimination Act and other laws, and hope to pursue their claims in individual arbitration. The plaintiffs, a total of 26 anonymous employees, filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming that these plaintiffs were among the 10% of Meta employees who were laid off in the layoff wave in May this year. The plaintiff pointed out that Meta’s entire internal artificial intelligence system, when selecting candidates for layoffs, Not included in employee’s approved compliance leave records The lawyer wrote in the complaint: "The data indicators referenced by this set of AI tools include performance ratings, calibration scores, production capacity output indicators, native AI ratings, and AI token consumption. Such indicators themselves have inherent flaws: employees who are on statutory medical leave, family leave, or whose work output has been reduced due to disability are naturally unable to accumulate such indicator data." The complaint specifically accuses Meta of using AI token consumption (a measure of AI usage) as an assessment basis to target specific groups of employees in disguise. A Meta spokesperson responded: "These accusations are baseless and inconsistent with the facts." "Decisions on personnel adjustments and organizational structure are always made by humans, not artificial intelligence," the spokesperson said. This case also highlights society’s growing concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on employment and the protection of the rights and interests of people with disabilities in the workplace. The plaintiff requested the court to issue Temporary injunction to maintain existing employment status , until the independent review of this algorithm-assisted layoff screening mechanism is completed and the substantive trial of the case is completed through arbitration. About a month before this lawsuit, the California Federal Court heard another AI employment case: a human resources manufacturer The accused AI recruitment system is suspected of discriminating against employees, and the judge ruled that the case can continue to be heard. Workday denied the accusations, stating at the time that its AI recruiting system Recruitment decisions are not made directly in California or anywhere else . Workday said: "Our technology only reviews job qualifications and does not involve legally protected attributes such as race, age, disability, etc.; at the same time, we also continue product testing through the Responsible AI Program to ensure that tools will not harm the rights and interests of protected groups."