{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0627","record_version":1,"title":"Meta AI workplace tools allegedly used to select employees on medical leave for layoffs","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":49.5,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":6.0,"completeness":2.88,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"704602e3dd565a2477838dceee8f2a7a48b1e520d5036434cdfc18c4d77a42a6"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"Meta","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-07-14","incident_class":"bias_disparate_impact","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"Meta's internal AI workplace tools, including its chatbot Metamate, AI usage dashboards, employee-trained second-brain agents, activity-monitoring data and AI-assisted performance tools, were used to rank workers before about 8,000 jobs were cut in May. The complaint alleges that the metrics were not adjusted for time on protected leave, so medical leave, maternity leave and disability-related reductions in output were recorded as underperformance. The lawsuit was filed by 26 current and former workers in federal court in Northern California. Meta says the claims lack merit and that workforce decisions were made by people. The allegations have not been tested in court. Meta paused an employee keystroke-monitoring program in June after an internal leak.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":26,"severity":"major","severity_because":"Test: many third parties, meaning a stated count of two or more affected parties. The quoted complaint names 26 current and former workers, as alleged and not tested in court.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-faces-lawsuit-over-ai-driven-layoffs-targeting-leave-takers-2026-7","publisher":"Business Insider","date":"2026-07-14","type":"press","title":"Meta used AI workplace tools to target employees on medical leave, lawsuit alleges - Business Insider","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","context.country":"C","impact.third_parties_affected_count":"C","event.incident_class":"D","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Meta used AI-powered workplace systems to penalize employees for taking medical and parental leave and then selected them for layoffs, according to allegations in a new lawsuit."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Meta had installed software on many US employees' computers to capture keystrokes and mouse movements as training data for its AI models, prompting employee protests over privacy and the program's mandatory nature, Business Insider reported in April."}],"impact.third_parties_affected_count":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The complaint, filed by 26 current and former workers on Monday in federal court in Northern California, alleges that Meta relied on AI-assisted tools and employee-monitoring data to score and rank workers before cutting about 8,000 jobs in May."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"By failing to adjust those measurements for time away, the suit alleges, Meta effectively recorded medical leave, maternity leave, and disability-related reductions in output as underperformance."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The complaint, filed by 26 current and former workers on Monday in federal court in Northern California, alleges that Meta relied on AI-assisted tools and employee-monitoring data to score and rank workers before cutting about 8,000 jobs in May."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The complaint, filed by 26 current and former workers on Monday in federal court in Northern California, alleges that Meta relied on AI-assisted tools and employee-monitoring data to score and rank workers before cutting about 8,000 jobs in May."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The complaint, filed by 26 current and former workers on Monday in federal court in Northern California, alleges that Meta relied on AI-assisted tools and employee-monitoring data to score and rank workers before cutting about 8,000 jobs in May."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"By failing to adjust those measurements for time away, the suit alleges, Meta effectively recorded medical leave, maternity leave, and disability-related reductions in output as underperformance."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The allegations have not been tested in court."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Meta paused the program in June after an internal leak made the data widely accessible across the company."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Single press source reporting allegations in a lawsuit; Meta disputes them and the claims are untested. The source does not name the model or model version behind Metamate or the second-brain agents, nor the autonomy level, tools, or permissions. No date of occurrence beyond month names (May, June) is stated, and no year is given. The source gives no root cause, trigger, or responsible party for the alleged metric failure, so these are left out. Judgement: the monitoring data access link is recorded as a failed access control (A1) because the source says the leak made the data widely accessible, although the source does not name the control. Judgement: detection_method is set to victim because the workers filed the complaint; the source does not state how the allegations surfaced. Judgement: severity is major under the stated-count test, counting the 26 workers as affected parties, though the source does not describe them as third parties. The count of 8,000 jobs is a layoff count, not a stated count of harmed parties, and no loss amount is stated. The industry is not stated in the source. The date the incident was disclosed is not stated, as the source gives only a weekday for the filing and Reuters report. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"US","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Business Insider reported on Meta's installed keystroke and mouse-movement monitoring software, which prompted employee protests.","quote":"Meta had installed software on many US employees' computers to capture keystrokes and mouse movements as training data for its AI models, prompting employee protests over privacy and the program's mandatory nature, Business Insider reported in April.","source_index":0,"when":"April"},{"text":"Meta cut about 8,000 jobs, after the alleged ranking of workers by AI-assisted tools.","quote":"The complaint, filed by 26 current and former workers on Monday in federal court in Northern California, alleges that Meta relied on AI-assisted tools and employee-monitoring data to score and rank workers before cutting about 8,000 jobs in May.","source_index":0,"when":"May"},{"text":"The complaint was filed by 26 current and former workers in federal court in Northern California.","quote":"The complaint, filed by 26 current and former workers on Monday in federal court in Northern California, alleges that Meta relied on AI-assisted tools and employee-monitoring data to score and rank workers before cutting about 8,000 jobs in May.","source_index":0,"when":"Monday"},{"text":"Reuters first reported on the lawsuit.","quote":"Reuters first reported on the lawsuit on Tuesday.","source_index":0,"when":"Tuesday"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-faces-lawsuit-over-ai-driven-layoffs-targeting-leave-takers-2026-7"]}}