• Judge says emergency order not justified
  • Workers claim AI tools targeted people who took medical leave
  • Novel claims will be decided in private arbitration

July 17 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday rejected a bid by 26 employees of Meta Platforms META.O to block the tech giant from laying them off while they pursue claims that they were targeted for job cuts by the company's AI-powered tools because they have disabilities or took medical leave.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick in Oakland, California, in a written order said he would not stop Meta from carrying out the layoffs beginning July 22 while the merits of the workers' novel legal claims are decided in private arbitration.

The judge said the workers could not show that losing their jobs amounted to the "irreparable harm" required for him to issue an emergency order blocking the layoffs.

Meta and lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company has denied wrongdoing and said that decisions involving the layoffs were made by humans.

Meta in May notified nearly 8,000 employees, or about 10% of its global workforce, that they were losing their jobs as the company doubles down on its investments in AI.

The lawsuit filed on Monday claims that in selecting jobs to cut, Meta relied on AI tools that measured productivity and AI token usage, disadvantaging people who missed work because of medical conditions or to care for family ⁠members. The company also relied on performance reviews based in part on employees' adoption of AI, the plaintiffs said.

The case appears to be the first against a major U.S. company ​to challenge the alleged use of AI in conducting layoffs.