Dozens of Meta employees sue, allege AI use for layoffs affects worke…

Twenty-six Meta employees are suing the company for allegedly using AI systems to select layoff targets, with the systems disproportionately flagging workers on medical, parental, or family leave because their output scores cannot accumulate during protected absences. The lawsuit claims Meta violated federal labour protections including the Family and Medical Leave Act and Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to pause AI scoring systems for leave-neutral review. If you're building AI hiring, performance ranking, or layoff-decision systems, you've just inherited legal exposure: algorithmic systems that mechanically downrank people on protected leave are now explicitly illegal under FMLA, ADA, and pregnancy discrimination law. Meta's defence — 'people made the call, not AI' — will not survive discovery if your system's design mathematically excludes protected workers from consideration.