While Meta is reportedly planning its largest layoffs in four years to offset its AI investments, a round of job cuts executed last year have made the tech giant the target of an age discrimination suit, which could serve as a cautionary tale for organizations riding the ongoing wave of mass layoffs.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram was sued in San Francisco County Superior Court last week by a former employee it laid off last year. According to court documents, Nicholas Franchet, 54, says the February 2025 layoffs—which reduced headcount by about 5%—disproportionately targeted older workers. In particular, Franchet contended in court filings that employees over 50 were 2.5 times more likely to lose their jobs compared to those under 40—and those over 40 were 1.5 more likely to be terminated than those under 40.
The suit states that Meta provided this data to laid-off employees.
Franchet’s claims are far from the first to contend age discrimination in Silicon Valley, with big-tech names like IBM, Google and HP among those that have faced suits contending their hiring practices discriminate against older workers.
That risk may be on the rise, as mass layoffs have picked up considerable steam in recent years, particularly in the tech sector. In January alone, U.S. employers cut more than 108,000 jobs, the highest January total in 17 years, according to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. While the transportation industry reported the most layoffs, that was primarily due to sweeping cuts at UPS; otherwise, most—nearly 22,300—were concentrated in tech.
Meta itself has done significant slashing: It cut about 3,600 jobs last year and another 1,000 at the start of this year, with forecasts of 16,000 job cuts coming sometime this year.
Such high-volume moves have many organizations turning to AI to guide restructuring decision-making, which can further open the door to discrimination claims, Chris Williams, global people and culture director at global employment solutions provider Mauve Group, recently told HR Executive.
“Models can embed bias or recommend role reductions that make financial sense but conflict with short-term strategic priorities,” Williams says.
When AI is deployed to analyze redundancies, it should be used specifically to “inform,” while HR must be tasked with applying “careful human judgment” over decision-making.
Organizations also often default to determining layoff decisions based on salary, which makes older workers inherently more susceptible, writes Sheila Callaham, co-founder and executive director of Age Equity Alliance in a recent piece in Forbes. Factor in today’s volatile economic environment driving ongoing layoffs, and the fact that workers are increasingly staying in the workforce longer—alongside misconceptions that this population as less AI literate—and the risk for age bias in talent practices explodes, with “real business consequences,” Callaham says.
“Age-coded hiring practices don’t just reinforce bias,” she says. “They reduce access to the skills, experience and adaptability employers want and need.”
Credit: Source link
