Twenty-six former Meta employees are suing the company, alleging that biased AI systems were used to disproportionately select individuals who took medical leave for layoffs. These employees were impacted by Meta's recent workforce reduction of approximately 8,000 individuals, aimed at offsetting investments in AI and data center infrastructure.

The lawsuit claims Meta utilized a range of AI tools, including an internal assistant named "Metamate," employee-trained agents, and activity-monitoring data, to rank employees based on performance, productivity, and AI-native metrics. However, it's argued that these systems failed to account for employees on family or medical leave, or those whose disabilities might affect their output.

Meta has stated the lawsuit lacks merit, asserting that layoffs always involved human input and that "Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI." The plaintiffs, each of whom took or requested protected leave or accommodations within 24 months of being laid off, are seeking to block further layoffs pending an audit of the AI selection process and intend to pursue their claims in arbitration. This follows a 2026 report that Meta was recording staff keystrokes and mouse movements for AI training, a program later paused due to privacy concerns.