My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: CA

Please note: My case involves both termination AND unemployment benefit issues

OK, a little background:
I have been working at my current job, full-time, for approx. 11 months. Ever since day one, I have had an "ongoing personality conflict" with a co-worker. He has been working there for 10+ years and is a very valuable employee to the business. But, he is one of those "type A personalities" who has a very bad bedside manner, and very unprofessional. Not to mention that he is very abrasive, and, in general, a very difficult person to be around ... let alone work with. For the most part, the other employees tend to get along with him on the surface, but nobody ever gets real close or personal with the guy ... they keep a safe distance. In other words, although valuable as far as being a highly productive employee, the guy is a major D*CK with a capital D! (BTW, he even acts like a jerk to customers as well, and has pushed some away, where they will never come back).

When I was hired almost a year ago, I was hired under the pretense that the position was permanent. However, after being there for about 6 months, I had learned that there was another employee (young, fresh out of school) who was hired for my position but he did not have the same state licenses that I have. He thought he did, so did they (the place I work at) but it wasn't so. However, he was such an outstanding employee that they chose to keep him there and do other job duties until he got the correct license. Well, earlier this week, he did just that ... he took a test and now has the same license provisions that I do and can do my job.

Now, they technically don't need me anymore ... as of this week. And guess what? Surprise, surprise, surprise! The long time employee, the one that I have a personality conflict with, decided to fire me today!

I have been anticipating this to happen. As a matter of fact, I have been applying, interviewing, and looking for jobs for the last 3 months now, even though I have (had) a job until today.

Anyways, let me get down to the nitty-gritty of how it went down:
First of all, the owner of the business was out of town today. And the office manager hadn't arrived yet. So, the coworker with the 10+ years, was sort-of unofficially in charge ... even though I have NEVER been told that he is my direct supervisor. I have NEVER officially been instructed to take ANY orders from him. And, nobody told me or anyone else that this guy was in charge for today.

What happened is that the young guy was attempting to use a piece of equipment that I had been operating since day one, and have had that duty, which was my responsibility. However, the "man in chartge for today" decided to barge in, call me an "A**HOLE" and tod me to clock out and go home.

He said, "you are fired, get your S*IT out of here ... you don't work here no more!"

Sidenote: This guy has been wanting a raise for a long time (been askin g for several years) but has been turned down, because the company's payroll dept could not afford it.(not without getting rid of somebody!)

My questions:
Can this guy do this? (fire me even though he is not officially my supervisor)
What recourse do I have?
Can I claim that I was fired wrongful termination? Or for an illegit/unjust cause?

The reason I ask is that I may now have to try to file for unemployment.
(Another side note: I briefly discussed this with my real supervisor over the phone, although he was out f town, and he said for me to come in to work Monday and see if we can all sit down and "work it out").

Question:
Am I now at any obligation to accept "new terms" or is my employee/employer relationship now terminated?
Do I have to try to "work out my differences" with the guy, or or can I file and get unemployment benefits now?

The reason I ask this is because nothing is likely going to change. In a week or two, the guy is just going to do the same thing ... until he ultimately gets the main supervisor behind him and then I will be terminated and have ZERO recourse.

Perhaps I still DO have recourse at THIS time, but not if we "try to work things out" and in a few weeks the SOB gets me fired for a "valid" reason !?!?!?

Thoughts?