A group of 26 former Meta employees is suing the company, alleging it used AI tools to unfairly target workers on leave with layoffs. The lawsuit claims Meta determined which workers to dismiss based on performance data collected by a “constellation” of internal AI tools, but failed to exclude those on parental or medical leave from its ranking system. The result, according to the employees, was that those who took protected leaves were disproportionately selected for layoff. The layoffs occurred in May as part of Meta’s plans to slash 10 percent of its staff, or around 8,000 workers. The former employees allege Meta used an internal AI assistant called Metamate, employee-trained AI agents, internal dashboards displaying AI token usage, and other tools to “score, rank, and select employees for inclusion on the termination list.” The lawsuit accuses Meta of violating federal and state laws preventing employers from terminating workers for taking protected leave. Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton stated, “These claims lack merit and are not based on facts. Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI.”