CLE/Friday Law Talks: Marginal Workers: How Legal Fault Lines Divide Workers and Leave Them Without Protection

This program is approved for 1 CLE credit.

In his new book Marginal Workers, William S. Boyd School of Law Professor Ruben J. Garcia argues that the increase of private sector workplace protections over the last century has resulted in a paradox -- workers today are more vulnerable than they have been in decades. This is even more true of workers who are especially at risk in the workplace, such as undocumented workers, temporary workers, noncitizens, workers of color, and women. Worse still, the groups that fall into these cracks in the legal system often do not have the political power necessary to change the laws for better protection.

In this CLE, Professor Garcia will describe his theory of marginal workers and explain why human rights dialogue might be able to change attitudes about worker protections and provide better protection for marginal workers, and all workers, in the process.

Professor Garcia will be joined by two leading advocates of workplace justice in the Las Vegas area: D.Taylor, Secretary-Treasurer of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, UNITE-HERE, AFL-CIO, and Africa Sanchez, Esq. Mr. Taylor will address the themes of the book in the context of his experience in the leadership of the largest private sector union in the hospitality industry for two decades. Ms. Sanchez, formerly general counsel of the Clark County Education Association, will apply some of the insights of the book to current controversies about the proper level of workplace protections for teachers and other government workers.

Students are welcome and encouraged to attend this event. 

Agenda 

Speakers

Ruben J. Garcia is Professor of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law. Prior to joining the UNLV faculty in 2011, he was Professor of Law and Director of the Labor and Employment Law Program at California Western School of Law in San Diego, where he taught for eight years. He also has held academic appointments at the University of California, Davis School of Law, the University of Wisconsin Law School, and at the University of California, San Diego. Before beginning his teaching career in 2000, Garcia worked as an attorney for public and private sector labor unions and employees in the Los Angeles area. His scholarship has appeared in a number of leading law reviews, including the Hastings Law Journal, the University of Chicago Legal Forum and the Florida State University Law Review, among others. His first book, published by New York University Press in 2012, is entitled Marginal Workers: How Legal Fault Lines Divide Workers and Leave Them Without Protection. He currently serves on the boards of the ACLU of Nevada and the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT).

D. Taylor has been with Culinary Workers Union, Local 226 for more than 24 years and serves as Secretary-Treasurer. He also is a member of UNITE HERE’s General Officers, serving as General Vice President and Gaming Division Director throughout Northern America. D. Taylor is a Trustee of the UNITE HERE Health and Welfare Fund and the Southern Nevada Culinary and Bartenders Pension Fund. He is a Board Member of the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, the Nevada State AFL-CIO, and Communities in Schools of Southern Nevada.

Africa Sanchez, Esq., formerly general counsel of the Clark County Education Association, is with Eric Palacios & Associates.