An equality hearing has been told that job cuts announced last year for multilingual support staff at TikTok’s Irish office were driven by big advancements in artificial intelligence (AI).
A barrister for TikTok told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) that the business rationale for the shedding of 150 jobs in multilingual customer support was based on “vastly improving” AI technology “taking on a bigger role” and “reducing the number of employees required, particularly language skills”.
The social media firm’s lawyers were addressing complaints brought under the Employment Equality Act 1998 by Viktorija Danilova, an ad service specialist, who faces being left jobless by the cuts next month.
Ms Danilova has alleged she was discriminated against on the grounds of family status and race in connection with the collective redundancy process started by the social media firm last year.
The tribunal heard Ms Danilova’s work involved deciding on appeals by TikTok advertising customers dissatisfied with decisions to filter out content on TikTok ads found to inappropriate. She was originally assigned to cover the Russian-speaking market, the tribunal heard.
Ms Danilova told the WRC she was out on maternity leave when she was put on notice of redundancy on 30th July last year, and that her view was she ought to have received more favourable treatment in selection for alternative employment as a result.
The complainant, who said she held a Latvian passport but was of Russian ethnicity, also claimed she was discriminated against on race grounds. Her position was that her contract of employment was silent on what market she was to work on, and that a letter of appointment stating her job title as “ad service specialist, Russian” in 2021 could not be used to override the contract.
“The employer justified the redundancy because I was hired for the Russian position. For the last two years of active employment, I was working on multiple markets which do not require knowledge of Russian,” she said.
“In February 2022, you’ll recall, that is when Russia invaded Ukraine, which brought about a whole geopolitical situation, sanctions, and what that meant here was the Russian-speaking market effectively ceased, or reduced to very, very little,” Kiwanna Ennis BL told adjudicator Pat Brady.
“It was agreed in a collective process that employees would be identified [for redundancy] based on the market for which they were originally employed. [She] was treated the same way as all the other employees in the Russian market,” said Ms Ennis, who appeared for the employer at a hearing yesterday instructed by A&L Goodbody.
Ms Ennis said that the company’s staff requirements changed because “AI tech has been vastly improving and updating”.
“It’s now going to be taking on a bigger role that is reducing the number of employees required, particularly language skills. The need for employees to translate into different markets has been reduced by the AI technology,” Ms Ennis said.
Some 300 staff were told they were at risk of redundancy on 30th July last year, with 150 roles ultimately being done away with. That included all seven positions in Ms Danilova’s original department covering the Russian speaking-market.
“Employee representatives were raising that that was unfair for people who’d moved to different markets, but there was no other system put forward as being a fairer one,” Ms Ennis said – adding that there was “pushback” to linking redundancies to the workers’ current market teams.
Ms Ennis added that Ms Danilova had been asked while on protective leave whether she wanted the redundancy process put on pause for the duration of her protective leave or to press on with it.
She said the company’s understanding initially was that the worker wanted to engage, but that when it became clear last September that the worker was “unhappy” the process was put on hold until January this year.
“[She] made it clear at the first meeting she did not wish to seek alternative employment [in TikTok] – she disputes that, I should flag – but that’ll be our evidence,” she said. Ms Ennis said there were roles available and that staff at risk of redundancy were being “prioritised by HR”.
Ms Danilova said she was the only member of her team who faced being left out of work and that her employer put her at a “disadvantage” because it had “pressured” her to participate in the redundancy process during her pregnancy.
She had screenshots of correspondence between her and two other colleagues from different national backgrounds who were also on maternity leave in which they stated that they had not been asked about engaging in the process, she said.
Ms Ennis said TikTok’s view was that there did not seem to be “any specific instance” of alleged discrimination that Ms Danilova had pointed to on either family status or race grounds. She said the company was considering applying to have the complaints struck out without proceeding into evidence.
Ms Danilova reiterated that as the “only mother on maternity leave who was made redundant” on her immediate team, she believed she had been discriminated against. “All my colleagues who were on maternity leave at the same time ass me, they kept their jobs, and I was the only one dismissed.”
Closing the hearing, Mr Brady said he would adjourn the matter to consider whether Ms Danilova had made out a prima facie case.
“If I conclude that it has, I will reschedule the hearing. If I find that it has not been, I will issue my decision accordingly and that will dispose of the matter,” he said.
