HOS violation

I have a feeling you reached a certain time to quit in the middle of unloading something.

You could be fired for quitting and failing to unload a trailer completely... HOS is secondary. If it was really a problem, you would be on the phone to dispatch.

In any case, filing unemployment to the State will force the Boss that fired you to explain the actual reason you were let go and that the State will decide if you are good or not.

There is more to the story. If you say you were stressing out about the load schedules based on what little time you had left, you would have taken that break to rest a minute and think about it.

You mentioned the trailer being OOS. Drop it and it's not your problem anymore. OOS generally means OOS wherever it might found to be OOS. Basicically a giant sticker applied to the vehicle either driver's windshield or the trailer's glad hand area. You cannot move vehicle without a mobile repairman being called to fix the problem OR.... you can prove you have availible hours on your logs to drive lawfully again.

If you were TRULY out of hours and cannot work, being fired for it just got you a bunch of money somewhere. There are laws against that.