A lawsuit has been filed against Meta over allegations that layoff decisions were made using artificial intelligence-supported systems. The plaintiffs argued that employees on medical and parental leave were disproportionately targeted.
Twenty-six employees at the U.S.-based technology company Meta, who were informed that they would be laid off at the end of July, filed a lawsuit in federal court in connection with the process used to identify 8,000 employees whose jobs were set to be terminated under a decision the company made months earlier.
According to the complaint filed against the company, tools such as artificial intelligence, keyboard and activity tracking systems, and algorithm-supported performance data were allegedly used to select employees for layoffs.
The complaint emphasized that the scores required by these systems could not be accumulated by employees who were on leave or had certain disabilities, and claimed that the layoff process disproportionately targeted workers on medical leave, pregnancy leave, and parental leave.
In a statement on the matter, Meta said the plaintiffs' claims were baseless and argued that decisions regarding the company's organization were made by people, not by artificial intelligence.
