Here’s a dystopian twist on the return-to-office debate: what if the AI your employer built to boost productivity was also the one deciding you’re expendable, specifically because you once took medical leave?

That’s the core allegation in a federal lawsuit filed by 26 current and former Meta employees, who claim the company’s internal AI systems were weaponized to selectively target workers with histories of medical, family, or disability leave during a massive round of layoffs on May 20, 2026. The reduction in force cut roughly 10% of Meta’s workforce, approximately 8,000 employees.

What the lawsuit actually claims

The complaint, filed July 13, 2026, in the US District Court for the Northern District of California (Case No. 4:26-cv-07122), paints a picture of automated discrimination dressed up as efficiency. The plaintiffs, represented by the Lumen Law Center, allege that several AI tools played central roles in identifying who got cut.

Those tools include “Metamate,” Meta’s internal AI assistant, along with performance monitoring systems and AI-token-usage dashboards. In English: Meta allegedly tracked how much employees used its internal AI tools and fed that data into systems that scored workers for layoff eligibility.

The critical claim is that all 26 plaintiffs had either taken or requested protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or related federal and state laws within the prior 24 months. The employees argue their performance metrics were dragged down during periods when they were, by legal right, absent from work. The AI systems, they say, didn’t account for that context. They just saw lower numbers and flagged the workers accordingly.

The plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief to pause the layoffs pending arbitration under Meta’s own mutual arbitration agreement.

Meta’s response and the pattern problem

Meta has denied the allegations, stating that all workforce management decisions were made by human employees, not automated systems.

Earlier in 2026, former Meta director Nicolas Franchet filed a separate lawsuit alleging age discrimination in layoffs. That case claimed workers over 50 were laid off at rates 2.5 times higher than younger employees during Meta’s February 2025 workforce reduction.

Meta has conducted multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years while aggressively pivoting its corporate strategy toward AI development.

Why this matters beyond Meta

The FMLA angle is particularly significant. Federal law explicitly protects employees from retaliation for taking qualified medical or family leave. If an AI system effectively penalizes workers for exercising that right, even indirectly through reduced activity metrics, it could constitute the kind of adverse employment action that courts take seriously.