[iaseiadit]

If you've been fired, it typically signals you had very bad performance or committed some fireable offense. If you were laid off, you were ostensibly just on the wrong team at the wrong time.

It's not about how you view your last employer, it's about how your next potential employer will view you.

[winternewt]

And HR will do their best to find an excuse to turn "layoff" into "fire" so the company won't need to pay unemployment