Ruben Garcia

Professor of Law
Director, UNLV Workplace Law Program
Expertise: Labor law, Employment law, Constitutional law

Biography

Ruben J. Garcia is a professor of law at the UNLV's William S. Boyd School of Law. Before joining the UNLV faculty in 2011, he was a professor 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. His first book, published by New York University Press in 2012, is titled Marginal Workers: How Legal Fault Lines Divide Workers and Leave Them Without Protection.

From January 2014 to January 2016, he served as co-president of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), and has served on the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Nevada. In Fall 2015, he was selected as a UNLV Leadership Development Academy fellow.  He is a member of the board of directors of the American Constitution Society (ACS), a national nonprofit organization, and an advisor to the Boyd Law Student and Las Vegas Lawyer Chapters of the ACS. 

Education

  • L.L.M., University of Wisconsin
  • J.D., UCLA School of Law
  • B.A., Political Science, Stanford University

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business development, economy, law

Ruben Garcia In The News

The Nevada Independent
As the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) pushes to amend its collective bargaining guidelines, university faculty fear that the changes will disadvantage them.
Power at Work
Our guests discuss the biggest labor story of the preceding week and the labor story everyone should be talking about over the next two weeks.
K.V.V.U. T.V. Fox 5
When Susana Pacheco accepted a housekeeping job 16 years ago at a casino on the Las Vegas Strip, she believed it was a step toward stability for her and her 2-year-old daughter. But the single mom found herself exhausted, falling behind on bills and without access to stable health insurance, caught in a cycle of low pay and little support. For years, she said, there was no safety net in sight — until now.
K.L.A.S. T.V. 8 News Now
The historic deals finalized late last year mark a major turning point: For the first time in the Culinary Union’s 90-year history, all major casinos on the Strip are unionized. Backed by 60,000 members, most of them in Las Vegas, it is the largest labor union in Nevada. Experts say the Culinary Union’s success is a notable exception in a national landscape where union membership overall is declining.

Articles Featuring Ruben Garcia

The Las Vegas skyline (Josh Hawkins, UNLV).
Campus News | December 4, 2023

A collection of news stories highlighting UNLV’s dedication to community and research.

Spooky season at UNLV (Becca Schwartz\UNLV).
Campus News | November 1, 2023

A collection of news stories focused on research, expert insights, and academic achievement.

The Sphere on the Las Vegas Strip.
Campus News | October 2, 2023

A collection of news stories highlighting expert insights, research, and academic achievement.