I agree....gotta be more to it or she will be receiving a nice settlement int he near future.
In New York as in most states, an employer can generally fire an "employee at will" (meaning an employee who is not covered by an employment contract or collective bargaining agreement) at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all, provided the employer is not discriminating against the employee because of race, ethnicity, age, religion, gender, disability, or queerness, or as punishment for whistle-blowing or filing a worker's compensation case. I wouldn't bet on a big payday -- at least not based upon what we know so-far.