211678P.pdf   11/30/2021  Elizabeth Placzek  v.  Mayo Clinic
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  21-1678
   U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota   
   [PUBLISHED] [Gruender, Author, with Erickson and Stras, Circuit Judges] 
   Civil case - Contracts. For the purposes of the Minnesota Whistleblower 
   Act, plaintiff was an independent contractor for Mayo Clinic, rather than 
   its employee, and she could not bring an action under the Act; with 
   respect to plaintiff's breach of contract claims, her claim that failure 
   to pay short-term disability benefits was a breach was barred by 
   Minnesota's three-year statute of limitations; the district court did not 
   err in granting defendants summary judgment on plaintiff's other two 
   breach of contract claims for calculation of her benefits for a separate 
   short-term disability and maternity leave; plaintiff's Minnesota Payment 
   of Wages Act and declaratory judgment claims derived from her breach of 
   contract claims, and the court did not err in granting summary judgment on 
   those claims.