[Tennessee] Does your Employer determine whether you’re approved or denied?

About two months ago I was fired and immediately filed for unemployment when I got home. It was the first time I’d ever been fired and ever had to file for unemployment so I was unsure as to what I was doing.

A week later I received a letter stating that I was denied unemployment for 2024-2025 because it was determined that I had quit.

I did not quit and even have a picture of my severance check to prove it.

After 9 weeks of initially filing my appeal, I finally have my hearing over the phone this Friday.

What I’m having a hard time understanding is, was I denied unemployment because they reached out to my previous employer after my initial application and they told them I had quit or was I denied because I filled out my application incorrectly?

EDIT: spelling errors