An ex-Googler says he discovered he'd been laid off while feeding his newborn daughter at 2 a.m.

Nicholas Dufau, a former lawyer at Google, said he felt "acutely expendable" after losing his job days after becoming a father for the first time.

• Former Googler Nicholas Dufau said he felt "acutely expendable" after being laid off via email.
• He wrote on LinkedIn that he discovered he'd lost his job while feeding his newborn daughter at 2 a.m.
• Google said on January 20 it was laying off 12,000 workers.

A former Google employee said he felt "acutely expendable" upon discovering he'd been laid off via email days after his wife gave birth to their first child.

Nicholas Dufau, who worked as a lawyer for Google in Los Angeles, wrote on LinkedIn that he became a father on January 17 — and three days later, while feeding his daughter at 2 a.m., "I received a notification that I had lost access to my Google corporate accounts."

Dufau had worked at Google for six months as an associate product counsel before being laid off, according to his LinkedIn profile. On his LinkedIn post about being laid off, Dufal posted a screenshot of a termination notice from Google, as well as a photograph of himself with a newborn baby.

He wrote that prior to embarking on parental leave, his co-workers "reassured me that the company was one that treasured its employees."

Google announced on January 20 it was laying off around 12,000 employees, or about 6% of its global workforce.

Dufau said he remained positive about his "intelligent, driven, and kind" co-workers, adding: "My saintly wife and miraculous daughter have been here to lift my spirits and give me comfort."

His wife, Brittany Gorin, a lawyer, wrote on LinkedIn: "It is heartbreaking to have been given a false sense of security, and then have that security pulled out right from under us just as we begin this new chapter as a family of three.

"I just want Nick to know that the baby and I, and so many others, love him so much. And his job does not, and never has, defined his worth to us."

Dufau isn't the only ex-Googler to feel stung by the manner of the company's layoffs.

An engineer who spent more than 16 years at Google said the company viewed staff as "100% disposable." An engineer who "fell in love with Google" as an undergraduate said she "couldn't stop shaking and crying" after finding out she'd been laid off hours before going into labor with her second child.

Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal US working hours.