Meta Faces Lawsuit Alleging AI-Driven Pregnancy Discrimination in Layoffs

Meta is confronting a lawsuit filed by 26 current and former employees who claim the company used artificial intelligence systems to assist in layoff decisions, disproportionately targeting workers with disabilities and those on protected leaves. The lawsuit alleges that AI tools named "Metamate" and "Checkpoint" scanned employee data to score, rank, and select individuals for termination without properly accounting for legally protected absences such as medical leave, parental leave, or family care, which negatively impacted women in particular.

One highlighted case involves a Meta scientist who was reportedly laid off a day before her water broke during pregnancy, just two days before her due date. Another case describes an engineer who received a lower performance rating due to fragmented work caused by injury. The lawsuit describes Meta’s internal performance infrastructure as combining keystroke data, activity monitoring, AI token dashboards, and algorithmic rankings, with "Checkpoint" becoming a core evaluation metric.

The plaintiffs argue that the AI algorithms relied on biased data, especially in assessing productivity, accommodation needs, and role criticality for employees with disabilities, and failed to conduct neutral, individualized reviews of protected leaves as required by law. These layoffs are part of a broader reduction where Meta cut approximately 8,000 jobs, about 10% of its global workforce, in May, marking one of the largest downsizing rounds in the company’s history.

The lawsuit accuses Meta of violating federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination or retaliation against employees with disabilities, those on medical leave, or pregnant workers. It also claims Meta did not update its AI systems to eliminate bias, contrary to new regulations in California and New York mandating thorough audits of automated decision-making tools. This case underscores growing legal scrutiny over AI use in hiring, evaluation, and workforce restructuring, paralleling European Union AI regulations that classify employment-related AI systems as "high risk" with strict transparency and testing requirements.

According to the Associated Press, the plaintiffs have requested a preliminary court order to halt the layoffs and maintain the status quo during private arbitration, arguing that the harm from final terminations would be irreversible. The complaint references a previous lawsuit by former employee Nicola Franche, filed in March, which alleged that Meta’s layoffs disproportionately affected older workers, with employees over 50 being 2.5 times more likely to be fired than younger colleagues.