26 Ex-Meta Workers Sue Over AI-Driven Layoffs in 10% Staff Cut
Updated
Updated · The Verge · Jul 14
26 Ex-Meta Workers Sue Over AI-Driven Layoffs in 10% Staff Cut
3 articles · Updated · The Verge · Jul 14
Summary
Twenty-six former Meta employees sued the company, alleging its layoff system disproportionately selected workers on parental or medical leave during May job cuts.
The complaint says Meta used a “constellation” of internal AI tools—including Metamate, employee-trained agents and dashboards tracking AI token usage—to score, rank and place employees on termination lists.
According to the lawsuit, those rankings did not exclude protected leave periods, effectively penalizing employees for taking legally protected time off and violating federal and state leave protections.
Meta said the claims “lack merit” and that workforce and organizational decisions were made by people, not AI.
The challenged layoffs were part of Meta’s plan to cut about 10% of staff, or roughly 8,000 jobs.