The Seventh Circuit held that the plaintiff could not point to evidence from which a jury could reasonably infer that any of her supervisors harbored retaliatory animus against her. Thus, the court did not resolve the question whether the defendant employed the plaintiff.
More specifically, the defendant explained that the plaintiff had been fired because of workplace misconduct, and the record showed that, prior to taking FMLA leave, the plaintiff had been accused of insubordination. Moreover, the record showed that the plaintiff had ignored a scheduled meeting with her supervisor to discuss the allegations of misconduct and did not otherwise address said allegations of misconduct against her. Also, while timing of plaintiff's termination was suspicious, the plaintiff failed to present evidence to show that accusation of poor job performance was baseless.