Tech layoff: Google employee laid off while feeding his newborn at 2 a.m

A former Google employee has revealed that he found out about his layoff at 2 am while he was feeding his newborn daughter. Nicholas Dufau said he felt "acutely expendable" when he received the email days after the birth of his first child.

The Los Angeles-based lawyer was working as the Associate Product Counsel for Google for the last six months. Mr Dufau was on parental leave after his daughter was born in the early hours of January 17. 

Mr Dufau took to LinkedIn to share the same. He said, "Last Tuesday morning at 2am, I became a father. The next day, my Google teammates showered me with heart emojis and virtual confetti, wishing me well on my paternity leave. On Friday morning at 2am while feeding my infant, I received a notification that I had lost access to my Google corporate accounts. I had been laid off via automated email."

He also shared a picture of himself feeding his little one on his company's Slack channel. 

He claimed that his coworkers pushed him to use all of his parental leave because they believed Google was a corporation that " that treasured its employees."

"And so last week marked the end of my 6 month stint at Google where I worked on a team packed with intelligent, driven, and kind folks who welcomed me into their Google family. They reassured me that the company was one that treasured its employees and encouraged me to take the full extent of my parental leave to cherish this precious time with my family," he stated. 

Dufau expressed his gratitude to his team for appreciating him as a person.

"Every layoff hurts-the timing of this experience, however, not only made me feel acutely expendable, it made me feel naive. Fortunately, many of my former colleagues have reached out with warmest wishes and sympathies, all while they continue to navigate what I'm sure are tumultuous times at Google," the former Google employee added.

He added that his wife and newborn daughter are giving him comfort and are trying to lift his spirits. Concluding the post, he said, "They have shown me that whatever difficulties I may be facing, I still have so much more to be thankful for. #google,"