Google employee sacked days after mother died of cancer, terms it ‘slap in the face’

A few days earlier, Sundar Pichai, CEO of tech titan Google made the announcement about firing 12000 employees globally. Several employees, who were laid off, termed the way of termination as totally inhumane.

Devastated over losing their jobs, several sacked employees took to social media to express their grief and anger. How would a person react if he/she loses his/her job after a personal tragedy or when he/she requires a job the most?

Tommy York, a software engineer was a part of the IT team at Google. He was on leave for a few days as his mother died of cancer. Soon after returning to work, he was fired by the tech giant. 

Also Read: Sacked Google employee discovers he lost job while feeding infant daughter at 2 am

Tommy took to LinkedIn and described in detail how he lost his job while he was yet to recover from the shock of his mother’s death. 

“I was laid off from Google last week. I found out on my fourth day back from bereavement leave for my mom, who died from cancer in December. He described the feeling of being laid off as a “slap in the face, like being hit when you're down," his post read. 

Further, terming the process of being laid off an inhumane way, he wrote, “I probably would've written about how openly and honestly talking about mental health was a positive part of the culture at companies like Google, or how I'd used bereavement time to start to undo months of anxiety, stress, and grief. Instead, I'm tired and disappointed.”

He also described about his journey with Google in 2021 while handling his mother’s chemotherapy treatments, after she got diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. While handling his mother’s treatment, he was not always able to prioritise work, he added.

However, Tommy doesn’t regret his decision as he would get more opportunities to work at exciting companies, but a parent dies only once. “I'm grateful that I spent the time and energy I did with my Mom, and not overworking for a company who might decide on one cold Friday morning that my badge doesn't work anymore," he added.

Tommy's post

A few days earlier, Nicholas Dufau also expressed his anger and displeasure who discovered that he was a victim of the mass layoffs while he was feeding his infant daughter at 2 am.

Not just employees, recruiters also victim of mass layoffs

Meanwhile, another Google employee who worked as a recruiter said he got sacked by the company in the middle of an interview.

Dan Lanigan Ryan worked as a recruiter at Google for 1.3 years in Dublin, Ireland. After getting sacked, he wrote in his LinkedIn post, "Unfortunately, I was laid off from Google along with many thousands of others last Friday. I did not expect it to come to such an abrupt end, blocked out of the system in the middle of a call."