> Getting fired is widely considered to be the individual’s fault (e.g., non-performance). I’ve heard something about the standard being “egregious misconduct”,

> Getting fired is widely considered to be the individual’s fault (e.g., non-performance). I’ve heard something about the standard being “egregious misconduct”, but that’s just beyond the details that I know about. I have no real information, this is just my handwaving, but I do not think this is the case. Most employment in the US is at will for both sides. That is, an employer can terminate an employee whenever it is beneficial for the business (and an employee can leave with no warning even if he is needed by the business). No "fault" is required on the part of the employee -- needs and priorities of the business could have shifted, for example. I think most employers would take this route of "no fault termination" if at all possible. Otherwise it would make sense for the employee to fight this, file complaints, etc. incurring potentially large costs for the company on time, effort and the PR fronts. So they tend to terminate employment with a bland corporate legalese instead of a red flag like "misconduct". Being terminated by a previous employer may cause some concern when job searching, but unless it actually comes with a paper trail of "gross misconduct" or some such it should not affect unemployment benefits. My 2c.