Termination of employment is an employee's departure from a job. Termination may be voluntary on the employee's part, or it may be at the hands of the employer, often in the form of
dismissal (firing) or a
layoff. Dismissal or firing is generally thought to be the fault of the employee, whereas a layoff is generally done for business reasons (for instance a business slowdown or an economic downturn) outside the employee's performance.