The plaintiff, Wilson, alleged that the defendant's employee, Vanaria, promised Wilson a (phony) job to convince her to give him erotic massages and to engage in sexual conduct. Vanaria went to great lengths to convince Wilson that there was a position and that she was being interviewed, however no position existed and Vanaria had no authority to hire.
The Seventh Circuit explained that Title VII protects job applicants even though there is no employer/employee relationship at time of adverse act. However, to use Title VII, a plaintiff must at least have been passed over for a job that actually existed before she can claim an "unlawful employment practice." Therefore, Wilson's failure to hire claim could not succeed since there was no “massage therapist” position to which plaintiff had applied.