Meta's AI layoffs sparked a lawsuit alleging bias against medical leave

26 former meta employees are suing the company, alleging it used a 'constellation' of internal ai tools, including metamate and employee-trained agents, to rank workers for layoffs without exempting those on medical or parental leave. the lawsuit claims this algorithmic approach disproportionately targeted protected employees during may's cuts, which reduced meta's workforce by 10% or roughly 8,000 people. meta denies the claims, stating decisions were made by people, not ai. this case highlights the growing legal risks of deploying ai for critical hr decisions and could set a precedent for employment law in the ai era.