Job applicants who claim they were not hired because they sued a former employer for labor law violations cannot sue under the Fair Labor Standards Act's anti-retaliation provision, the Fourth Circuit ruled Friday in a case against Science Applications International Corp. According to the court, the anti-retaliation provision applies only to current employees, so the lower court correctly dismissed a suit by Natalie Dellinger, who claims Science Applications rescinded a job offer to her after it learned she had filed an FLSA suit against her former employer.  In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court ruled that the anti-retaliation provision allows only employees to sue, and that it could find no FLSA case law defining job applicants as employees.

"We conclude that the FLSA gives an employee the right to sue only his or her current or former employer and that a prospective employee cannot sue a prospective employer for retaliation," the appeals court ruled.  According to the ruling, Dellinger filed an FLSA overtime and minimum wage suit against her former employer, CACI International Inc., in July 2009. Around the same time, she applied at Science Applications, a Fortune 500 engineering company.  Dellinger was offered a job as an administrative assistant at Science Applications in August 2009, contingent on her passing a drug test and completing a security clearance form, the ruling states.  The form asked her if she was a party to any pending noncriminal court actions and she answered that she had sued CACI, according to the ruling.  Several days later, Science Applications withdrew the job offer, the ruling states. Dellinger then sued, alleging that the withdrawal of the job offer was unlawful retaliation under the FLSA, which prohibits discrimination against employees who earlier sued under the law. (click on link to read full story)