“fired” means being terminated for cause, such as you stole something. “laid off” is the term used for no longer being employed for other reasons, like the company can’t afford to keep your position around.
> “fired” means being terminated for cause, such as you stole something."
Ugh. All 50 states have At-will employment:
"At-will employment is a term used in U.S. labor law for contractual relationships in which an employee can be dismissed by an employer for any reason (that is, without having to establish "just cause" for termination), and without warning,[1] as long as the reason is not illegal (e.g. firing because of the employee's race, religion or sexuality)." [1]
Being 'fired' has a negative stigma, despite the fact you can be terminated for _any_ reason, including 'employee just didn't fit in'. Many companies are also very savvy about the process. Have a "negative" performance review, with a warning, then some time later be fired. Thus documenting a "cause" other than your ugly sweater.
What's interesting is when employers mistakenly believe they can disqualify you for unemployment because they fired you. This is not the case.
Thanks for the legal clarification, but that's not what the point is. Many people, especially those new to the workforce, seem to like to use the word "fired" to mean "lost my job" because they've heard it in TV shows or whatever, and they don't realize that it has very negative connotations (only that it sounds forceful).
I see a lot of people saying things like "my company ran out of money and they fired me", which does not accurately describe what happened. If you went into a job interview and told them you were "fired" when you were really "laid off", that could dramatically impact whether or not you get the job, so it is important to know what language people use, regardless of the legal definitions.
"...they don't realize that ['fired'] has very negative connotations"
?! Really?
"important to know what language people use"
Thats exactly what I'm saying. There are three terms recognized by your state department of labor: Quit, Fired, Laid Off.
You can be "fired" both in legal terminology, and in common language use, for no fault of your own, but the word has a negative connotation.
What am I saying? It sucks! It's a failure of language. Socially 'fired' has a negative 'connotation' (which is commonly applied at a personal level), and in both real-world practice and in legal terms 'fired' has the 'denotation' of 'termination' where termination can be all of these things (at a relationship level), and the employee is not necessarily 'at fault'.
The meaning of 'fired' is so unpredictable I can't imagine anyone using it as you say, because they don't know how someone is going to take it.
However, your next employer can call your previous employer to verify employment and there is no federal law preventing the old employer from describing your termination as 'fired'. That sucks.