A U.S. federal judge has refused to temporarily stop Meta Platforms from proceeding with layoffs involving 26 employees who allege that artificial intelligence tools helped target them for termination because of disabilities or periods of medical leave.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick in Oakland, California, said the employees had not demonstrated the kind of immediate, irreparable harm necessary to justify an emergency order blocking the job cuts. Meta is scheduled to begin finalising the layoffs for many of the affected workers from July 22, while the underlying claims are set to be handled through private arbitration.
The employees argue that Meta used AI-assisted systems to evaluate and rank workers for termination. According to their lawsuit, the process relied on productivity data, employee use of AI tools and performance assessments that partly reflected how readily workers adopted artificial intelligence.
The workers claim those systems disadvantaged employees who had been absent because of medical conditions, family-care responsibilities or other legally protected leave. They also allege that internal tools tracked activity such as keystrokes, screen content, emails, browser history and workplace communications.
Meta has denied wrongdoing and has said human decision-makers were involved in the layoff process.
Although Orrick rejected the request for an immediate restraining order, he indicated that the issue could be revisited if further evidence emerges about the role AI played in selecting employees for dismissal. The workers’ request for a longer-term preliminary injunction remains pending.
During a hearing, the employees argued that losing their jobs would mean more than the loss of salaries. They could also lose stock benefits and employer-supported health coverage, with some claiming that the disruption could affect ongoing medical treatment, pregnancy-related care and other essential needs.
Meta argued that the losses could be compensated later if the employees ultimately prevail in arbitration.
The lawsuit is notable because it represents an early legal challenge to the alleged use of AI systems in large-scale corporate layoffs. The employees, who filed anonymously, include engineers, managers, researchers and designers.
Meta notified roughly 8,000 employees—about 10% of its global workforce—in May as the company intensified its focus on artificial intelligence. The affected workers were removed from Meta’s internal systems on May 20 but remained on the payroll pending completion of the layoffs.
The case could now become an important test of how courts deal with workplace decisions shaped by AI systems, particularly when those systems rely on productivity data that may not account for medical leave, caregiving responsibilities or other periods when employees are legally absent from work.
