Dozens of Meta employees filed a federal lawsuit on Monday in the Northern District of California.
They allege the social media giant used artificial intelligence tools to target workers on protected medical or maternity leave for mass layoffs.
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The plaintiffs, 26 workers, seek a preliminary court ruling to halt Meta from finalizing layoffs affecting about 8,000 employees.
The legal action claims Meta relied on automated metrics rather than managerial judgment to select employees for termination.
According to the complaint, Meta used a "constellation of internal artificial intelligence systems" including AI performance ratings and keystroke-monitoring data.
These tools were used to identify employees for termination.
"Meta did not assemble the termination list through the considered judgment of managers who knew the work," the complaint stated.
Instead, the company relied on automated tracking "to score, rank and select employees for inclusion on the list."
The lawsuit alleges that the metrics failed to account for workers taking family or medical leave.
"The result was that employees who took protected leaves were disproportionately selected for layoff, based on scoring that not only failed to account for their protected leaves, but in effect penalized the employees for exercising their legal rights to these leaves," the complaint alleged.
One plaintiff, an engineer, claimed his evaluation suffered due to approved time off, resulting in a "lowered rating."
The complaint also alleges the tracking software was implemented without proper workforce communication, via a "low-visibility internal post – made by an engineer rather than a senior leader."
