The Seventh Circuit held that the failure to apply for work did not preclude the retaliation claim, because: (1) the adverse act concerned the defendant's, as well as the former employer's, failure to inform the plaintiffs of job openings when they informed all of the plaintiffs' co-workers about those openings and none of the plaintiffs' co-workers had engaged in any protected conduct; and (2) plaintiffs' failure to apply for the work stemmed from very discriminatory practice that they had complained about.