He wasn't fired, he was laid off. There are two types of employment termination, those where the employee is deemed at fault by the employer, and those where he is not. This guy was explicitly told that he was not a fault, and he was laid off due to burn rate at the company. Then he says he was fired? No. What difference does it make? When you are laid off there is often a severance package and you are eligible for unemployment benefits, some of which come out of your former employer's pocket. Therefore, you are still at least somewhat obligated to them financially. If you are fired, you are not eligible for either of these things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termination_of_employment