Question by Gwen: Is there any difference between “fire” and “laid-off” while looking for new jobs?
My husband was fired and we negotiated with his ex-company and request them to change “fire” to “laid-off” since my husband did not have any fault. They refused. I am just wondering if there is any difference from the company’s prespective and from employee’s perspective. If no, why did they refuse to do so since it is said “being laid off” is a commonly-accepeted reason?
Best answer:
Answer by Dan in Miami
Fired can be
Company is doing GREAT but you are fired “for just cause”
Laid off ALWAYS implies that you were a great employee, but, they were having a bad year and had to cut back staff.
Dan in Miami
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Practically speaking, there is no difference. They are both involuntary terminations. From a perception standpoint there is a difference because fired usually carries the connotation that the person did something wrong, while the term laid-off is frequently associated with an economic downturn.
Yes. You get fired for sub-standard performance. You get laid off when the company can no longer afford to pay you.
Being fired means that the person did something wrong and or violated a company rule. Being laid off means that you were let go do to financial or business reasons. If you are fired you cannot collect unemployment.
It may be that the former company has a policy of how to deal with laid-off employees that your husband might not qualify for due to the conditions of his release from employment.
He can tell employers that he was “involuntarily terminated, not for cause” and that will get the message across. “Fired” generally implies termination for cause, so you want to avoid that.
But make sure what he tells a prospective employer matches what they’ll find out when the call the old employer. When they are asked if your husband was terminated for cause, be very sure you know they will answer “no”.
If you are laid-off from a job they can call you back when business picks up.
If you get fired it means they no longer require your services.
2 different things.
If you have a good reason, all I’m worried about as an employer is skills.
All things being equal; I prefer hiring employees not fired from their last job; but it’s the real world, and pretty much everyone has been fired at some point.,
“Fired” is usually viewed as your job being taken because you did something wrong. “Laid-off” is usually when the company is cutting back on employees.
Fired is termination due to an employees incompetence, negligence, or misconduct.
Laid off is termination due to a company decision to reduce labor costs, or to eliminate certain positions due to a change in the company’s location or direction.
If an employee is officially “fired,” then the employee is not entitled to receive unemployment benefits or extension of health benefits. This might explain why your husband’s employer wanted to “fire” him.
Another thought is that your husband deserved to be fired because of misconduct, but your husband does not wish to reveal the reason to you, and the company, for confidentiality reasons, does not want to tell you specifically why your husband was fired.
If you don’t want to get into specifics, “let go” is a more generic term that covers basically any reason a company terminated employment. “Fired” is usually negative, and is when they terminate for something wrong you did. “Laid off” is generally used when a company is down sizing, and is not for something you did.
Being fired has more than one meaning.
You can be fired for cause– meaning you did something wrong.
or you can be fired because your position was eliminated.
Being laid-off, means you have the right to be called back to work by the company
GM just fired a couple of thosand white collar workers,
It is not a negative, it just means they will not be called back by GM when things improve.