“fired” implies “termination with cause”. That is, they believe you screwed up and so you were let go without severance, and in a pinch they’re willing to go to court on that.

“Laid off” implies they did bulk downsizing and unless the company finds a way to weasel out of it, there’s going to be severance and employment insurance payouts and the like.

In the Southern states this is a distinction without a difference because they just shoot you in the face and toss you into the body pit there regardless of the cause of the termination of your employment, but in the rest of the world this distinction is real.