'It feels like slap in the face': Google worker sacked after leave for mother's death

Among the 12,000 employees that Google has laid off, a software engineer has said he was fired by his employer just days after returning to work from a bereavement leave following the death of his mother.

Tommy York, who is based in San Francisco in the US, wrote in a LinkedIn post that his mother died in December 2022 after battling stage-four cancer.

"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," York wrote.

"It's unclear how the lay-offs were determined, and perhaps the year I had may have nudged me more towards being laid off. I started at Google in December, 2021, and my Mom was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer the following February, around when the formal orientation ended and I was put on projects," he added.

He further said that his termination felt like a "slap in the face, like being hit when you're down".

Moreover, he remembered the time that he spent with his mother saying, " I am 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".