Layoffs are just firings where they give you a cash severance in exchange for you promising not to sue.

They're a universal feature (not a bug) of jobs in the US, since most other countries aren't "right to work" and require actual cause to fire you.

Definitely the worst layoffs are the actual firings where you ask for something that seems reasonable at work like a better schedule, and then they fire you with no severance and no notice.