Legal Question in Employment Law in California

They can fire you for anything they want. The only issue here is unemployment. If you sign the form and then they fire you later, they are setting themselves up to have the option of contesting the unemployment claim on the basis that you were fired for cause. If you refuse to sign the form, they will argue they fired you for cause for insubordination and refusing to follow company HR proceedures. You will then have to argue and prove that they were requiring you to sign a false statement and that the false aspects were really important and not just nitpicking details. For example if they say you did xyz wrong on Tuesday, and it was actually on Monday, that won't fly. But if the form says you did xyz wrong and in fact Joe Smith did xyz, then you have a point. The bottom line, however, is that if they don't like your work or your attitude, they can fire you, and the only issue will be if you get to collect unemployment or not.

Make you sign? No. But.... In general, unless an employee is civil service, in a union, or has a written employment contract, they are an 'at will' employee that can be disciplined or fired any time for any reason, with or without �cause�, explanation or notice, other than for illegal discrimination, harassment or retaliation under the ADA disability, Civil Rights [age, race, sex, ethnic, religion, pregnancy, etc], Whistle-blower, or similar statutes. The employee's goal should be to keep the employer happy.