Meta Sued for Allegedly Using AI to Select Sick and Pregnant Staff for Layoffs

The post Meta Sued for Allegedly Using AI to Select Sick and Pregnant Staff for Layoffs appeared first on Android Headlines .

Meta is facing a groundbreaking lawsuit from 26 anonymous employees who claim the company used automated AI systems to unfairly target workers on protected medical, parental, and family leave during its massive round of job cuts earlier this year. According to court documents filed in Oakland, California, and first reported by Reuters, the affected workers are asking a federal judge to temporarily freeze their layoffs—set to begin on July 22—while they pursue private arbitration to keep their jobs, health insurance, and visa statuses intact. The plaintiffs argue that Meta is not relying on the personal, considered judgment of human managers.

Instead, the company allegedly built its termination list using a “constellation of internal artificial intelligence systems.” This automated setup allegedly ranked employees using productivity metrics, keystroke logging, active screen time, and “AI token-usage” dashboards. The flaw in the code The core of the lawsuit lies in how these algorithms evaluate productivity.

By design, the automated tracking metrics aren’t intended to accrue while an employee is out. The AI systems did not pause or adjust to account for legal. So, protected absences, workers on maternity or disability leave were systematically flagged for low output and high inactivity.

The lawsuit highlights devastating human stories. There’s a scientist notified of her termination just two days before giving birth, a manager let go 16 days into an approved medical leave, and an engineer whose performance score dropped after taking time off for a physical injury. Plus, the plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that because women disproportionately take caregiving and pregnancy leave, the algorithm’s reliance on raw output created a severe “disparate impact” that actively discriminated against female employees.

This legal battle also shines a harsh spotlight on Meta’s controversial, internal AI-monitoring project. The company originally introduced it earlier this year to train Meta’s models on how “smart people do things.” It was meant to quietly monitor employees’ messages, browser histories, and even mouse movements.

Following harsh internal backlash and a petition signed by over 1,600 employees, CEO Mark Zuckerberg paused the keystroke-monitoring program in June. However, the lawsuit claims the data collected during that window had already done its damage. Meta’s defense Meta is pushing back hard against the allegations.

In a statement to The Guardian, a Meta spokesperson flatly rejected the claims. The firm asserted that the lawsuit lacks merit and is not based on facts. Meta maintains that workforce management and organizational decisions always have been, and still are, made entirely by people rather than automated algorithms.

The post Meta Sued for Allegedly Using AI to Select Sick and Pregnant Staff for Layoffs appeared first on Android Headlines .