Tell Meta: Stop Using AI to Target Workers on Leave

Workers at Meta have accused the company of using AI to help decide who got laid off — and people who took medical, parental, pregnancy, or disability leave may have been pushed onto the chopping block.

A new lawsuit from 26 employees at Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, alleges that the company’s layoff process punished workers for taking protected leave for pregnancy, parenting, disability, illness, or family care. The workers say Meta relied on productivity data that made people on leave look less “active” — even though they were legally entitled to that time away.

That is exactly the kind of corporate abuse workers fear most: a black-box system potentially shaping their future, with no transparency and no accountability.

Tell Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Meta’s board: Stop using opaque AI systems in layoff decisions and ensure workers’ rights are fully protected.

Meta denies the allegations. But workers should not have to take a tech giant’s word for it. Meta must prove its systems did not punish people for taking protected leave.

No one should lose their job because they got sick, had a baby, cared for family, or used leave they had every right to take.

This is bigger than Meta. If one of the world’s most powerful tech companies can hide behind opaque algorithms during mass layoffs, other corporations will follow. Pregnant workers, disabled workers, caregivers, and people recovering from illness will all be at risk.

Meta has enormous power over the future of work. Public pressure can force the company to disclose the truth, protect affected workers, and set a stronger standard before AI-driven layoffs become normal.

Workers are fighting these layoffs now, but Meta can act immediately before more harm is done.

Add your name now to demand Meta freeze these AI layoffs, open its books, audit its AI tools, and make harmed workers whole.

Thanks for all that you do,
Matt from the Swarm