A US federal judge has ruled that Meta can proceed with layoffs affecting 26 employees who had sued the company, though the court left open the possibility of reconsidering its decision if the employees present further evidence on the role of AI in the job cuts, according to a report by news agency Reuters. The employees had sought an emergency order to halt the layoffs, alleging they were selected using AI-powered evaluation tools that discriminated against workers with disabilities or those who had taken medical leave.
Court leaves door open for reconsideration
US District Judge William Orrick in Oakland, California, declined to block the layoffs, which are scheduled to begin next week, but said the court 'may reconsider' its decision if the employees provide additional evidence regarding 'whether and how AI was used' in the company's workforce reduction. In a joint statement issued after the ruling, the employees' lawyers told Reuters, "The Court expressly stated that it may reconsider its determinations based on any additional evidence the parties provide regarding whether and how AI was used in the reduction in force."
Why the judge rejected the emergency request
According to the report, Judge Orrick rejected the employees' request for a temporary restraining order that would have prevented Meta from carrying out the layoffs while their claims proceed through private arbitration. In his written order, Orrick said the employees had not shown that losing their jobs would amount to the 'irreparable harm' required for an emergency order blocking the layoffs. The company has denied wrongdoing and has said that decisions related to the layoffs were made by humans.
Employees allege AI systems influenced layoff decisions
The lawsuit, filed earlier this week by 26 anonymous employees, claims Meta relied on AI-assisted systems to help determine which jobs would be eliminated during its latest workforce reduction. According to the complaint, the company used AI tools that measured productivity, AI token usage and AI adoption, which the employees allege disadvantaged workers who had taken medical leave or time off to care for family members.
The plaintiffs also claim Meta used several internal AI-assisted systems to score and rank employees for layoffs, including a large language model assistant called 'Metamate', an employee-trained 'second brain' that tracked communications and documents, and a productivity score generated from scanning keystrokes, screen content, emails and browser history. They allege these systems continued to collect performance-related data while employees were on legally protected leave, resulting in lower AI adoption scores that were later used in layoff selection.
Employees remain on payroll but locked out of systems
The employees remain on Meta's payroll but lost access to company systems in May and have not performed work since then, according to court filings. The layoffs are scheduled to be finalised on July 22 for many employees, with others expected to leave later in July or August.
During a hearing this week, plaintiffs' lawyer Barbara Cowan reportedly argued that employees would lose more than salaries, saying, "There's no do-over for bonding with a new baby or giving birth or having active medical treatment." Meta's lawyer Erin Connell responded that the workers were losing employer-subsidised health insurance rather than coverage altogether, and argued that such losses could be compensated later if the employees succeed in arbitration.
