It used to be that if your employment was terminated and your 401(k) plan had less than $5,000 in it, the employer could just close out your plan and send you a check. Now the IRS prefers that the employer roll your balance over to an IRA, which would have been much m....
Do you already have an IRA? And has it been more than 60 days since the check was received? If so, quickly - very quickly - deposit the check into your IRA, so that it become a rollover from your 401(k) plan to an IRS, thus erasing both the penalty and the income tax.
Otherwise, unless you are 55+, you are out of luck.
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