I recently put in my two weeks notice and was let go that same day that I gave my notice. I understand that the bank that I work for does not have to pay me the two weeks, but some of my friends think that I may be able to get those paid anyways. They state that the federal equal oportunity employement act states that the company must hire, promote, and terminate in the same manner for all employees. Since they had paid the previously fired employees (over the last year and some this year) they would have to pay me the two weeks.

Are they required to pay me because they paid others?

Thank you for your time.

No, they are not. There may be any number of reasons why other employees were paid notice pay and you were not. Unless such treatment is based SOLELY upon a protected characteristic such as race, age, gender, ethnic origin, religion, etc., employees can be treated differently. In this case, one of the reasons is that pay in lieu of notice is not required by any law.