Employment – retaliation — employee

Listen to this article

United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Employment – retaliation — employee

A former employee who sued the employer for discrimination cannot sue the employer for retaliation, because the employer refused to do business with him as an independent contractor.

“Specifically, the cases cited by Alam recognize agency liability where the agent ‘exercise[s] control over an important aspect of [the plaintiff’s] employment,’ Carparts, 37 F.3d at 17 (citation omitted), where the agent ‘significantly affects access of any individual to employment opportunities,’ Spirit, 691 F.2d at 1063 (citation omitted), or where ‘an employer delegates sufficient control of some traditional rights over employees to a third party.’ Nealey, 114 F. Supp. 2d at 1367 (citation omitted). Here, however, Alam runs into the same problem he has with alleging a direct employment relationship with MillerCoors: he was pursuing a prospective business relationship with MillerCoors as an independent contractor through Alam & Company, not employment with MillerCoors. Alam has thus not alleged that MillerCoors prevented him from accessing “employment opportunities” or that MillerCoors controlled any aspect of the only employment relationship alleged in the amended complaint, his former employment with Miller Brewing. We thus conclude that the district court appropriately dismissed Alam’s federal claim against MillerCoors.”

Affirmed.

11-2456 Alam v. Miller Brewing Co.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Randa, J., Bauer, J.