According to Wikipedia, in this episode (based on the book Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu), it wasn't that Monk did not require her services so much as, perhaps feeling that she was no longer needed, she "reveals that she has an interview for a glamorous job with a concert promoter." Mr. Monk warns her that her new boss will not be as good as he was. In the end, she misses the excitement of working with him, and she returns to her job as he relinquishes his badge.
In the dialogue at the end, they disagree about whether she quit or was let go:
Monk: I pay $900 a week.
Natalie: I am not taking a pay cut, Mr. Monk!
Monk: Then you shouldn't have quit.
Natalie: I didn't quit, you let me go. Oh, God, you make me mad!
This episode was directed by Dean Parisot, whose only other episode was the pilot.
Interestingly, in the book, Natalie does not leave when Monk gets his badge back (which he only gets temporarily because he is operating as a scab during an unofficial police strike - "blue flu"), but continues working with him at his job. In the television series, they were trying to wrap up a lot of loose ends as the series came to an end, and one of those loose ends was Adrian getting his badge back. But once he had it back, he decides it is not for him. That storyline naturally had to consider what would happen to Natalie if Monk went back to regular work.
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