Meta faces lawsuit over layoffs that allegedly impacted older workers

Meta Platforms is facing a lawsuit alleging that its recent layoffs disproportionately impacted older employees, raising fresh questions about age bias in the technology sector.

According to reporting by the San Jose Mercury News, the lawsuit was filed by Nicolas Franchet, a former senior director at the company, who claims that workers aged 40 and above were more likely to be laid off during Meta’s workforce reduction in 2025.

Franchet, who was 54 at the time of his termination, alleges that employees aged 40 and over were 1.5 times more likely to be laid off than younger colleagues, while those aged 50 and above were 2.5 times more likely to lose their jobs. The lawsuit cites internal data provided to terminated employees as the basis for these claims.

Meta declined to comment on the allegations, the San Jose Mercury News reported, and did not respond to questions on whether it disputes the figures cited in the filing.

The case stems from Meta’s broader restructuring effort, announced in early 2025, which aimed to cut approximately 5% of its workforce. At the time, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg described the move as part of a shift towards “performance-based layoffs”, according to the lawsuit.

Franchet had spent around 13 years at the company, working across its San Francisco and Menlo Park offices, and had risen to a senior leadership role. The lawsuit describes him as a “high-performing employee” who consistently received strong evaluations from peers and supervisors.

Despite this, he was reportedly assigned a “lowest performer” rating shortly before the layoffs — a classification the lawsuit claims was used to identify employees for termination.

The financial implications are central to the case. Franchet alleges that his dismissal resulted in the loss of unvested stock grants worth nearly $12 million at the time of his layoff. These restricted stock units, awarded in 2023, were part of a special recognition package approved at the highest levels of the company, the filing states.

He is seeking unspecified damages, including compensation for lost equity and career impact.

The lawsuit adds to a series of legal challenges in the technology sector related to age discrimination. The San Jose Mercury News noted that companies such as HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise agreed to pay $18 million in 2023 to settle similar claims, while Google paid $11 million in 2019 to resolve allegations of bias against older job applicants.

Previous cases involving IBM also alleged systemic targeting of older workers, though some of those claims were dismissed on procedural grounds.

The Meta case is likely to draw attention given the scale of its layoffs and the broader industry context. Over the past two years, major technology firms have undertaken widespread workforce reductions amid cost pressures and shifting business priorities.

Legal experts say such cases often hinge on whether companies can demonstrate that layoff decisions were based on legitimate performance criteria rather than age-related factors.

For Meta, the outcome of the lawsuit could carry both financial and reputational implications, particularly as scrutiny around workplace practices in the technology sector continues to intensify.

The case now moves into early legal proceedings, where the company’s internal processes — and the data behind its layoff decisions — are likely to come under closer examination.