US Court Denies Meta Employees' Request to Block Layoffs Over AI Use Lawsuit
A US federal judge denied 26 employees of Meta Platforms' request for a temporary injunction to block layoffs while they challenge the company’s decision. The plaintiffs argue that Meta used AI-based tools to select employees for layoffs, which disadvantaged people with disabilities and employees on medical leave, Reuters reports.
US District Judge William Orrick of Oakland, California, stated in a written ruling that he would not halt the planned layoffs starting July 22 while the employees' claims are considered in private arbitration.
The judge said the plaintiffs failed to prove that losing their jobs would cause "irreparable harm," a necessary condition for issuing an emergency injunction to suspend the layoffs.
The company previously denied any wrongdoing and stated that final layoff decisions were made by people, not artificial intelligence.
In May, Meta informed nearly 8,000 employees, about 10% of its global workforce, about layoffs amid active investments in AI technology development.
The lawsuit filed this week claims that the company used AI systems to evaluate employee performance and AI tool usage levels when determining layoff candidates. According to the plaintiffs, this disadvantaged employees absent due to health reasons or family care. Additionally, the company allegedly considered performance evaluations partly based on how actively employees used AI.
According to the plaintiffs, this may be the first case against a major American company challenging the use of AI during mass layoffs.
The employees requested the court to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the completion of layoffs until arbitration concludes. A separate request for a longer temporary court injunction is still under consideration. During the hearing, the judge indicated he would likely decide on it next month.
Employee representatives stated that along with their jobs, they would lose wages, valuable stock options, and health insurance, which could jeopardize treatment, including during pregnancy or other medical conditions.
"You cannot relive the period of bonding with a newborn, give birth again, or postpone necessary treatment," said plaintiffs' attorney Barbara Kovan.
Meta representative Erin Connell denied that employees would completely lose health insurance. She said they only lose employer-subsidized insurance, and such losses could be compensated later if the plaintiffs win arbitration.
The plaintiffs note that Meta’s employment contracts require employees to resolve labor disputes through individual arbitration but do not cover requests for temporary court protection.
The lawsuit was filed anonymously. Among the plaintiffs are engineers, managers, researchers, and designers. They were informed about upcoming layoffs in May. For many, the layoffs are set to take effect on July 22, and for others, in late July or August.
According to Meta, laid-off employees formally remain on staff and receive pay but lost access to internal company systems as of May 20 and no longer perform their duties.
The lawsuit also claims that Meta used several internal AI systems to evaluate and rank employees before layoffs. These include the large language model-based assistant Metamate, an internal "second brain" system trained by employees that tracked work communications and documents, and a productivity metric based on keystroke analysis, screen content, emails, and browser history.
The plaintiffs say these systems did not pause during leaves or legally guaranteed absences, causing AI tool usage metrics to drop and be used as one of the criteria for selecting layoff candidates.
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