Meta Sued by Employees Over AI-Driven Layoffs Targeting Sick Leave
A wave of terminations (PHK) continues to sweep everywhere. Increasingly, layoff cases are being treated as normal. Companies also seem to find it ever easier to decide to cut staff, even though the impact on the victims is enormous.
Meta Platforms is one of the technology giants most prolific in announcing layoffs. Recently, the way Meta processed and carried out its redundancies has come under scrutiny.
Twenty-six employees have filed a legal claim accusing Meta of using AI software to target people with disabilities or those taking sick leave when selecting who would be affected by the mass layoffs.
The claim was filed in a federal court in Oakland, California, at the start of this week. In the employees’ claim, Meta is said to have relied on factors such as productivity and AI token usage when cutting thousands of workers earlier this year.
The mechanism disadvantaged people who did not come to work due to medical conditions or to care for family members, as quoted by Reuters on Wednesday (15/7/2026).
The plaintiffs are among those whose layoffs were announced in May 2026 and who will formally lose their jobs from 22 July 2026. They are seeking an interim court ruling to prevent Meta from completing the redundancies, while pursuing their claims through private arbitration.
The workers stated that their agreement with Meta requires employees to resolve employment disputes through individual arbitration, but that provision does not apply to requests for interim relief.
A Meta spokesperson said on Tuesday (14/7) that the claim was without merit.
“Decisions related to workforce management and organisation were made by people, not AI,” the spokesperson said, as quoted by Reuters on Wednesday (15/7/2026).
This lawsuit appears to be the first against a major US company contesting the alleged use of AI in carrying out layoffs.
Meta dismissed 10% of its global workforce in May, or nearly 8,000 people. The company had planned further staff reductions later in the year, according to a Reuters report.
However, CEO Mark Zuckerberg subsequently said he did not anticipate further company-wide layoffs this year.
These changes are part of a sweeping overhaul as the company steps up investment in AI and places AI agents at the centre of both its product offering and its internal working practices.
The 26 plaintiffs, who filed the suit anonymously, accuse Meta of violating federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination or retaliation against workers with disabilities, workers on medical leave, or pregnant workers.
They also claim that Meta failed to test its AI systems for bias, which would breach recently enacted laws in California and New York City.
The plaintiffs come from six states, including California and New York, as well as the District of Columbia.