can i get fired for looking for another job in the state of california?

You can be fired for dang near anything the boss wants to fire you for. If you've been with them for 10 years, I seriously doubt they would fire you for looking for a job closer to home. They may even help you find something or, perhaps, they have a location that you can transfer to that is closer to your home. If it's a 4-hour drive from home to work, is there anyway you can relocate to the area where you work? If you've been with them 10 years, sounds like it may be a career.

Can you give a few more details? In what field do you work? I assume you'll stay in the same field...yes? Why do you live two hours from your job? Would it not be easier to find a closer residence if all you're after is the opportunity to drive less? Surely you'd save on gas whatever additional money you'd pay for a different apartment or house...

Absent a contract, an employer doesn't need a reason to fire you.

But why would he know?

Don't make the mistake of job searching at work. It's easy for the employer to monitor that these days. One guy got fired because he was looking for cars.

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Technically speaking yes, as employers don't need a valid reason to fire you (except of course in cases of discrimination, or where contracts/unions get in the way).

However, if you simply do the searching outside work hours, he probably isn't going to know.

Without an union or a contract you can be fired for any reason including no reason in California, besides the protected discrimination classes. Looking for a new job isn't a protected discrimination class.

Well you live in Cali. And you are looking for a job closer to work by your own words. Try the place next doors or across the street. They may have a backroom you could live in...like the Vietnamese restaurants do. YES they do .....say they don't...I can prove it.

No. Unemployment is for people who lose their jobs with the aid of no fault of their very own. shifting is your loved ones determination, and your organization could extremely dispute the declare as claims develop the employers insurance costs that fund the state unemployment coffers.

You can be fired for no reason at all, so yes, this is a good enough reason.