Twenty-six Meta employees sued the company in federal court in Oakland, alleging that internal AI-enabled tools and activity monitors helped identify workers for layoffs in a way that disproportionately affected employees on medical, parental and family leave. The plaintiffs, part of roughly 8,000 cuts Meta announced to improve efficiency, claim the company relied on keystroke and activity data, AI token-usage dashboards and algorithmically assisted rankings that did not account for protected leave, violating the FMLA, ADA, Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. They also cite disparate-impact provisions under Title VII. All 26 plaintiffs had taken protected leave or requested disability accommodations and face separations beginning July 22; they seek to preserve the status quo pending arbitration, citing potential loss of health coverage, unvested equity and immigration consequences. Meta said the claims lack merit and that workforce decisions were made by people, not AI.
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