I have heard arguments that “fired” has the implication that the employee is at fault
Generally that’s not an implication, it is the outright meaning. America is weird on that because you guys can be fired without cause; in the civilized world you’re either fired (at fault), laid off (no work for you to do), or terminated with severance pay (because you’re not at fault, but it also isn’t a layoff).
Laid off would still mean severance pay in the civilized world. In my country it’s either a layoff or a firing. I don’t think you can do a termination without it being one of the two. What’s the difference? Well with a layoff, even if you pay the employee their severance and everything… You can’t just hire a new person to fill the role. The role needs to actually disappear for a while at least.
Generally that’s not an implication, it is the outright meaning. America is weird on that because you guys can be fired without cause; in the civilized world you’re either fired (at fault), laid off (no work for you to do), or terminated with severance pay (because you’re not at fault, but it also isn’t a layoff).
Laid off would still mean severance pay in the civilized world. In my country it’s either a layoff or a firing. I don’t think you can do a termination without it being one of the two. What’s the difference? Well with a layoff, even if you pay the employee their severance and everything… You can’t just hire a new person to fill the role. The role needs to actually disappear for a while at least.