Recent moves by Amazon and Meta to slash their workforces are unfortunate reminders for tech workers in California and beyond to know their rights on the job.
Amazon has laid off thousands of workers over the past three months, according to news reports. CEO Andy Jassy and other executives have said the cuts are meant to increase efficiency and reduce corporate bureaucracy.
The tech giant first announced in October that it would eliminate 14,000 jobs, including many mid-level managers. Amazon added another 16,000 employees to its layoff list in January and said it would close its Fresh grocery stores and Go convenience marts, too.
“Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm – where we announce broad reductions every few months,” Beth Galetti, a senior vice president at Amazon, wrote in a Jan. 28 memo to employees, posted on the company’s website. “That’s not our plan. But just as we always have, every team will continue to evaluate the ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate.”
That should not instill confidence in anyone working at Amazon, or even across the tech sector.
Meta in January also announced planned layoffs, reducing its Reality Labs staff by 10%. The move means many workers will lose their jobs at the company, which has its headquarters in Menlo Park.
Although that is a fraction of the cuts at Amazon, the combined layoffs highlight an increasingly fraught situation for anyone working in the tech industry. Tech companies are going all in on artificial intelligence with a slash-and-burn approach that has them abandoning or downgrading other business lines. At the same time, many tech and other employers expect that the rise of AI will soon mean they need to hire far fewer human workers.
No matter what happens next, working people are likely to take the brunt of the fallout.
At Justice Law Corporation, our California employment class action attorneys help working people in the tech and other industries across the state fight back to protect their rights on the job. We are seasoned attorneys who have dedicated our careers to assisting people in wage and hour, discrimination, and other cases.
The layoffs at Amazon and Meta should be troubling to anyone in California, whose economy is fueled by the massive tech industry. For tech workers, it should serve as a wake-up call. Here is what you need to know about the situation and your rights on the job.
The AI Gold Rush Puts Jobs at Risk
The job reductions at Amazon and Meta highlight tech and other companies’ mad dash to cash in on the rise of AI and underscore the boom-and-bust nature of their efforts.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg last year directed company executives to trim budgets in order to boost investment in AI. That includes pouring money into TBD Lab, an initiative aimed at developing advanced “superintelligence.” The company reportedly is planning to spend tens of billions of dollars on data centers and highly-compensated AI employees.
The shift comes at the expense of Reality Labs, the multi-billion-dollar virtual reality project that not long ago was billed as the next big thing. The company spent heavily on virtual reality wearables over the last decade, but was not able to convince consumers to actually buy the products.
Amazon is also competing with Meta, Google, and others to ramp up its AI offerings. CEO Jassy has said improvements in AI are likely to result in fewer jobs at the company.
“We have a strong conviction that AI agents will change how we all work and live,” Jassy wrote in a June memo. “There will be billions of these agents, across every company and in every imaginable field.”
Layoff Rights in California
Amazon, Meta, and other employers across California generally have broad rights to increase or reduce their workforces as they see fit. Many even see layoffs as a natural part of the way that they operate their businesses.
California employees do have some rights and protections, however, when it comes to layoffs. Chief among them are the right to advance notice of layoffs and protections against unlawful discrimination and retaliation.
State and federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) laws require employers to give employees advance notice of mass layoffs. California’s WARN law, which is broader than the federal version, forces employers with 75 or more employees to give at least 60 days’ notice before layoffs involving at least 50 employees. The law is intended to help impacted workers – and their unions, in organized workplaces – by giving them some breathing room to try to plan financially and begin seeking jobs elsewhere.
Legal Protections Against Discrimination and Retaliation
Although employers have significant discretion to hire and fire employees, they cannot make these and other decisions in ways that are discriminatory or retaliatory.
California law and federal law ban workplace discrimination based on a number of protected characteristics, including:
- Race
- Gender
- Pregnancy
- Disability
- Age
- Religion
- Sexual orientation
- Gender identity
In some situations, the law prohibits employers from using these characteristics as a factor in layoff decisions or from making cuts that disproportionately discriminate against workers.
State and federal laws also protect workers from being targeted for speaking up on the job. Employers cannot penalize workers for reporting unlawful conduct, whether it is through internal complaints or filing claims with enforcement agencies. That means they cannot select workers for layoffs as a means of retaliation or a way to silence certain employees.
Our California Employment Class Action Attorneys Can Help
If you believe that your employer is violating your rights on the job, whether it is by being underpaid or in other terms and conditions, you do not need to go it alone. A California employment class action attorney at Justice Law Corporation can help you evaluate your claim and understand your rights and options.
Our office is conveniently located in Pasadena. Contact us at (818) 230-7502 to schedule a free consultation with a California employment class action attorney.
