Please note that 'laid off' isn't the same as being fired. You're fired if you do something wrong. You are laid off if the company hasn't got enough work to continue employing you.

to get "laid off" is to lose a job. An employer has told the employee that the current pay check will be his last, and the he or she does not need to appear for work anymore.

Being 'laid off' suggests that this could be a temporary situation. If orders fall in a production company, for example, they might 'lay off' some temporary staff, and then take them on again when they start getting more orders.

My brother was laid off = my brother was fired.

this mean that your brother lost his job