Jana Elfenbein wrote on LinkedIn last week that she was feeding her daughter, who was three weeks old, when she found out she was laid off from Google, by insiders.

“While on maternity leave feeding my 3-week-old daughter at 4:30 a.m. last Friday, I learned that my position at Google had been eliminated,” she wrote in the LinkedIn post.

As of Tuesday, it has more than 6,000 likes and 300 comments.

Google laid off about 12,000 employees earlier this month — and many, including people who were laid off while eight months pregnant or caring for a sick parent, have shared their experiences on LinkedIn.

It comes amid a continued workforce reduction in the tech industry in 2022 and 2023, with layoffs at Amazon, MicrosoftMeta and companies like impossible food and Coin base.

Related: In a viral TikTok, an ex-YouTube employee talks about being fired while on a business trip

Google said the layoffs were due to overhiring.

“Over the past two years, we have seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and drive that growth, we have hired people for a different economic reality than the one we face today,” CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a statement. memo.

The company stated at the time that laid-off employees would be paid via 60 days’ notice and receive severance pay of 16 weeks’ salary, with more depending on length of employment, plus “six months of healthcare, job placement services”. and immigration support for those affected.”

The company did not respond to a request for comment about how severance payments would work for people on parental leave.

Elfenbeins profile says she was primarily employed in recruiting at Google and had been there since May 2018.

“I can’t change what happened, but I can control my reaction to it,” she wrote in her post.

“I choose to cherish the meaningful connections and wonderful memories I’ve made, honor the personal and professional growth I’ve gained, and celebrate the legacy of the work I leave behind,” she added.

An expert told precious australiabusinessblog.com that although it is legal in the US to fire someone who is pregnant (which it is not). Allowed in France for example in most cases) or parental leave has other disadvantages.

“It doesn’t look good to divorce someone who is pregnant or on parental leave,” said Margaret Hermes, chief operations officer at Chicago-based fintech Avant.

“Certainly, there are people who are going to rethink the Google slogan ‘don’t be evil’,” she added.