Meta Platforms is facing a lawsuit from 26 current and former employees who allege the company used an internal artificial intelligence system to help identify workers for layoffs, disproportionately affecting employees who had taken maternity, parental or medical leave.
The complaint, filed in California, seeks to temporarily block the layoffs while the employees pursue individual legal claims, according to Reuters.
The plaintiffs, whose identities were withheld in the filing, include engineers, researchers, managers, designers and a director who said they had access to the company’s internal human resources platform.
The lawsuit alleges Meta relied on an AI-integrated system known as “Checkpoint” to evaluate employees using productivity metrics, including large language model (LLM) usage, and that the system failed to account for protected leaves of absence when assessing employee engagement.
Nearly half of the plaintiffs allege they were selected for layoffs after taking maternity or parental leave. Others say they were targeted after taking medical leave related to disabilities, bereavement leave or leave to care for family members.
One plaintiff, identified as a director in the complaint, alleged he was discouraged from taking leave under the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act because of concerns it would negatively affect his chances of being retained during the company’s workforce reductions.
According to the lawsuit, the Checkpoint platform “failed to distinguish employees’ leave from lack of engagement,” resulting in protected absences being treated as indicators of lower performance.
The employees are seeking an injunction preventing Meta from proceeding with the layoffs while each plaintiff pursues separate legal action, as required under employment agreements, Reuters reported.
Meta denied the allegations. “Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
The lawsuit comes as companies increasingly deploy AI tools to assist with human resources functions, prompting growing scrutiny from regulators and labor advocates over the potential for algorithmic bias and discrimination in employment decisions.
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Faustine Ngila is the AI Editor at Impact Newswire, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is an award-winning journalist specializing in artificial intelligence, blockchain, and emerging technologies.
He previously worked as a global technology reporter at Quartz in New York and Digital Frontier in London, where he covered innovation, startups, and the global digital economy.
With years of experience reporting on cutting-edge technologies, Faustine focuses on AI developments, industry trends, and the impact of technology on society.
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