Source: sud.ua

A US federal judge in Oakland, California, denied a request by 26 Meta Platforms employees for a temporary injunction to block planned layoffs while they pursue claims in private arbitration, saying the plaintiffs failed to prove they would suffer "irreparable harm." The plaintiffs allege Meta used internal AI-based systems — including the large language model assistant Metamate, an internal "second brain" tracking communications and documents, and a productivity metric based on keystrokes, screen content, emails and browser history — to evaluate, rank and select employees for layoffs, which they say disadvantaged employees on medical leave or caring for family.

The lawsuit was filed anonymously and lists engineers, managers, researchers and designers among the plaintiffs, many of whom were notified of upcoming layoffs in May with many terminations set to take effect on July 22 or later in July and August. Meta denies wrongdoing, saying humans made final layoff decisions and a company representative, Erin Connell, stated employees would not completely lose health insurance but could lose employer-subsidized coverage that might be restored if arbitration is won. A separate request for a longer temporary injunction remains under consideration with the judge indicating a likely decision next month. The webpage also includes a copyright notice restricting reprinting or reproduction without proper hyperlinking to the Judicial and Legal Newspaper.