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Meta sued for using AI to tag employees on leave

techJul 15, 202622799

Twenty-six current and former Meta employees filed a 71-page federal lawsuit in the northern district of California alleging Meta used internal AI systems to score, rank and select workers for the company’s roughly 8,000-person workforce reduction earlier this year. The complaint says the AI tools used performance ratings plus keystroke, mouse, browser history, message, email and location data to flag employees and that those metrics fall when people take maternity, medical or disability leave. Plaintiffs say the systems effectively penalized workers for taking protected family or disability leave, citing examples including a scientist notified of layoff two days before giving birth and a manager let go 16 days into medical leave. The suit seeks a preliminary court order to block Meta from finalizing layoffs and asks for reinstatement, back pay, lost equity, benefits and other damages. Meta disputed the claims, saying the allegations lack merit and that workforce decisions were made by people, not AI. The complaint highlights growing legal and regulatory scrutiny of automated workplace decision systems in states such as California, Colorado and Illinois and notes Meta introduced an AI employee-monitoring program earlier this year. The lawsuit could prompt court scrutiny of employer use of automated scoring in personnel decisions and may seek to halt the current round of layoffs while claims proceed.

ChrisInParis
@chrisinparis.bsky.social

Zuckerberg sued for using AI to target employees with disabilities, for layoffs. These people keep telling us who they are and are begging to be regulated. There's no good reason other for *not* regulating these companies other than greed. www.reuters.com/world/meta-u...

34845d ago
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