Ive heard anecdotal evidence of an employer telling a different story than an employee. Mostly these are reports on forums like this, but I do know personally one person who got laid off but thought otherwise everything was OK… until he found out later that the employer filed a security violation against him. Fortunately he got it straightened out.
However that should not diminish the message of the original post. I do know another guy who got fired for inappropriate internet usage, but was told it would be handled as a “layoff” (probably to avoid any possible lawsuits). Wonder if that sort of thing is the cause of some of these differences.