[rcstank]

That’s not what fired means in the US. Being fired is for cause. If I got laid off I would never say I was fired, I would say I was laid off. If I said I was fired I’d have to explain what I did wrong, whereas if I was laid off nobody asks questions.

[bachmeier]

> Being fired is for cause.

More generally, fired is used for anything specific to the individual, whether for cause (they were incompetent) or other reasons (the boss didn't like them). Laid off is for a departure due to company reasons (lack of demand for their product).

[singlow]

Technically "for cause" means anything other than when the position is eliminated. So usually "laid off" means that the total headcount is being reduced, or that being reallocated to other tasks, so employees that are no longer needed are laid off.

If you fire a 500 person team and intend to replace them with new people who do the same thing, it's not really a lay-off, but for legal purposes they probably have to treat it as a lay-off in terms of severance / unemployment compensation because I doubt they can document an actual cause for most of them.

[gipp]

Yes, sure, but it's also extremely common to just use "fired" colloquially for either case (in the US at least)

[kibwen]

> Being fired is for cause.

Being laid off is also for cause, specifically the cause of "the executives need to juice the stock price".

[lotsofpulp]

In the US, “for cause” termination is specific terminology used to disqualify someone from getting unemployment benefits, which means the employer’s unemployment insurance premiums do not go up.

For example, if you terminate an employee for coming to work late over and over, then the employee was clearly not meeting their expectations and they get terminated due to their own actions, hence they are not eligible for unemployment benefits. Because the state does not have to pay unemployment benefits, the state does not increase the amount of unemployment insurance premiums the employer has to pay.

If you terminate someone to improve cash flow, then the employee is not considered to be terminated due to the employee’s actions, and hence they would be eligible for unemployment benefits. Hence the employer’s unemployment insurance premium probably will go up.

[hbn]

For the cause of the person who lost their job.

Most people wouldn't say "Greg was laid off for pissing in the water cooler"

[madeofpalk]

"let go" is a corporate euphemism for fired.