Meta is going through yet one more lawsuit, this time for age discrimination.
Layoffs at Meta final 12 months allegedly focused older staff at greater charges, in accordance to a brand new lawsuit. Former Meta Senior Director of Monetization Analytics, Nicolas Franchet, who labored at the firm for 13 years, claims he was unfairly laid off due to his age.
Franchet was 54 when he was laid off in February 2025. At the time, Meta mentioned it was reducing about 5% of its “lowest performers.”
Now, in a lawsuit filed earlier this month in San Francisco County Superior Courtroom, Franchet claims older staff have been the ones hit the hardest.
“Staff 40 and older have been 1.5 occasions as doubtless to be included in the layoffs than staff underneath 40, and staff 50 and older have been 2.5 occasions as doubtless to be terminated than staff underneath 40,” the lawsuit reads, allegedly citing information offered by the firm to laid-off staff.
The case comes as rumors swirl that Meta is making ready for an additional spherical of mass layoffs this 12 months that might affect as a lot as 20% of the company’s workforce. It additionally follows a number of lawsuits lately accusing Silicon Valley corporations of age discrimination.
HP and its spinoff Hewlett Packard Enterprise agreed in 2023 to settle a class-action lawsuit for $18 million that accused the corporations of pushing out older workers. In 2019, Google settled a class-action lawsuit for $11 million that alleged the firm discriminated towards job candidates over 40.
On this newest case, Franchet alleges he was suspiciously labeled a low performer after persistently receiving robust opinions.
In March 2023, he even obtained a big restricted inventory unit award that got here with a observe from CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
“It’s essential to us that you just really feel invested in Meta and the worth that you just are serving to to create in the world,” the observe from Zuckerberg allegedly mentioned. “Choice for this fairness award was reserved for a really small variety of individuals and your significant affect has been acknowledged by the highest ranges of firm management.”
Six months before his termination, in August 2024, Franchet obtained an “At or Above Expectations” efficiency ranking. Only a few months later, Meta launched a brand new “lowest performer” class. The lawsuit claims the assessment course of used forward of the layoffs was much less rigorous than standard. Throughout that course of, Franchet obtained a “Met Most Expectations” efficiency ranking and was categorised as one in all the firm’s lowest performers.
Franchet is now looking for compensatory and punitive damages.
He claims he misplaced roughly $12 million in fairness, as most of his restricted inventory items have been set to vest over the subsequent three years.
Meta did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
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