Maria L Ontiveros
Professor and Dean's Circle Scholar
Full-Time Faculty
ontiveros@usfca.edu
(415) 422-5365
Biography
Professor Maria Linda Ontiveros focuses her scholarly work on employment law with an emphasis on immigrant workers' rights. She publishes and presents regularly on a variety of related topics, including the history of immigrant workers, workplace harassment of women of color, organized labor, immigrants and the Thirteenth Amendment, and access to education for children of undocumented workers. Ontiveros is co–author of Employment Discrimination Law: Cases and Materials on Equality in the Workplace, and the author of numerous articles and book chapters.
- Education
- AB, UC Berkeley
- MILR, Cornell University
- JD, Harvard University
- JSD, Stanford University
- Experience
- Associate, Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe
- Raychem Corporation
- Professor, Golden Gate University School of Law
- Expertise
- Discrimination - Race
- Employment Law
- Immigration
- Labor and Employment Law
- Latino Issues
- Books
- Employment Discrimination Law: Cases and Materials on Equality in the Workplace (St. Paul, Minn.: West Academic Publishing , Ninth Edition , forthcoming) )
- Employment Discrimination Law: Cases and Materials on Equality in the Workplace (St. Paul, Minn.: West , Seventh Edition 2004, Eighth Edition , 2010) (Co-authored with Dianne Avery, Roberto L. Corrada, Michael L. Selmi, and Melissa Hart.)
- Law Review and Journal Articles
- “H-1B Visas, Outsourcing and Body Shops: A Continuum of Exploitation for High Tech Workers,” 38 Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law (2017). SSRN
- “Introduction: The Thirteenth Amendment Through the Lens of Class and Labor,” 39 Seattle University Law Review 659 (2016). Read more
- “Is Modern Day Slavery a Private Act of a Public System of Oppression?,” 39 Seattle University Law Review 655 (2016). SSRN
- “NCAA Athletes, Unpaid Interns and the S-Word: Exploring the Rhetorical Impact of the Language of Slavery,” 2015 Michigan State Law Review, Symposium Issue 1658 (2015). SSRN
- “The Fundamental Nature of Title VII,” 75 Ohio State Law Journal 1165 (2014). SSRN
- “Migrant Labour in the United States: Working Beneath the Floor for Free Labour?,” Migrants at Work: Immigration and Vulnerability in Labour Law (2014). SSRN
- “A Strategic Plan for Using the Thirteenth Amendment to Protect Immigrant Workers,” 27 Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society 133 (2012).
- “Building a Movement with Immigrant Workers: The 1972-74 Strike and Boycott at Farah Manufacturing,” 5 Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal 479 (2011). SSRN
- “Labor Union Coalition Challenges to Governmental Actions: Defending the Civil Rights of Low Wage Workers,” University of Chicago Legal Forum 103 (2009). SSRN
- “Out of the Shadows and into the Spotlight: Immigrants and Organized Labor,” 11(1) WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society 157 (2008).
- “The Thirteenth Amendment and Access to Education for Children of Undocumented Workers: A New Look at Plyler v. Doe,” 42 University of San Francisco Law Review 1045 (2008). (Co-authored with Joshua R. Drexler.) SSRN
- “Immigrant Rights and the Thirteenth Amendment,” (16)2 New Labor Forum 26 (2007).
- “Noncitizen Immigrant Labor and the Thirteenth Amendment: Challenging Guest Worker Programs,” 38 University of Toledo Law Review 923 (2007). (Symposium: A New Birth of Freedom: The Thirteenth Amendment — Past, Present and Future.) SSRN
- “Immigrant Workers' Rights in a Post-Hoffman World: Organizing Around the Thirteenth Amendment,” 18 Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 651 (2004).
- “Lessons from the Fields: Female Farmworkers and the Law,” 55 Maine Law Review 157 (2003). (Symposium Issue)
- “Work in the 21st Century — Creating the Social Architecture,” 37 University of San Francisco Law Review 511 (2003). (Symposium: Work in the 21st Century)
- “Introduction: Forging Our Identity: Transformative Resistance in the Areas of Work, Class, and the Law,” 33 U.C. Davis Law Review 1057 (2000). (LatCrit IV Symposium: "Rotating Centers, Expanding Frontiers: LatCrit Theory and Marginal Intersections")
- “Adoptive Admissions and the Meaning of Silence: Continuing the Inquiry into Evidence Law and Issues of Race, Class, Gender, and Ethnicity,” 28 Southwestern University Law Review 337 (1999).
- “A Vision of Global Capitalism that Puts Women and People of Color at the Center,” 3 Journal of Small and Emerging Business Law 27 (1999). (Symposium Issue)
- “Fictionalizing Harassment/Disclosing the Truth,” 93 Michigan Law Review 1375 (1995). (Reviewing Michael Crichton's Disclosure and Celia Morris's Bearing Witness)
- “Rosa Lopez, David Letterman, Christopher Darden, and Me: Issues of Gender, Ethnicity, and Class in Evaluating Witness Credibility,” 6 Hastings Women's Law Journal 135 (1995).
- “Three Perspectives on Workplace Harassment of Women of Color,” 23 Golden Gate University Law Review 817 (1993). (The article was reprinted in Critical Race Feminism: A Reader (1997) and in The Latino/A Condition: A Critical Reader (1998)
- “To Help Those Most in Need: Undocumented Workers' Rights and Remedies Under Title VII,” 20 New York University Review of Law and Social Change 607 (1993-1994).
- “The Myths of Market Forces, Mothers and Private Employment: The Parental Leave Veto,” 1 Cornell Journal of Law & Public Policy 25 (1992).
- Book Contributions
- “Migrant Labour in the United States: Working Beneath the Floor for Free Labour?” in Migrants at Work: Immigration and Vulnerability in Labour Law edited by Cathryn Costello and Mark Freedland (Oxford University Press , forthcoming)
- “Immigrant Workers and the Thirteenth Amendment” in Promises of Liberty: Thirteenth Amendment Abolitionism and Contemporary Relevance edited by Alexander Tsesis (New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press , 2010)
- “Employment Discrimination” in Human Rights in Labor and Employment Relations: International and Domestic Perspectives edited by James A. Gross and Lance Compa , 195 (Urbana-Champaign: Labor and Employment Relations Association, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , 2009)
- “Harassment of Female Farmworkers: Can the Legal System Help?” in Women's Labor in the Global Economy: Speaking In Multiple Voices edited by Sharon Harley , 103 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press , 2007) SSRN
- “Female Immigrant Workers and the Law: Limits and Opportunities” in The Sex Of Class: Women Transforming American Labor edited by Dorothy Sue Cobble , 235 (Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press , 2007) SSRN
- Opinion Pieces and Blog Posts
- “San Francisco Daily Journal ”, (October, 2016)
- “Fair Collective Bargaining”, Executive Counsel (May/June 2009)
- “Sotomayor's Life and Opinions Reveal Her Wisdom in the Ways of the World and the Ways of the Courtroom”, Daily Journal (2009)
- Presentations
- Panelist, “Using the Thirteenth Amendment in Court,” Thirteenth Amendment and Economic Justice Symposium, “Thirteenth Amendment and Economic Justice Symposium,” Las Vegas, Nevada (March 2018)
- Panelist, “The Intersection of Discrimination Law and Other Substantive Rights,” Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law (BJELL) 2017 SYMPOSIUM, “The Future of Discrimination Law: Frameworks, Theory, Practice and People,” Berkeley, California (March 2017)
- Co-Organizer, 12th Annual Jack Pemberton Lecture for Workplace Justice, The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, San Francisco, CA (February, 2016)
- Presenter, “A Strategic Plan for Using the Thirteenth Amendment to Protect Immigrant Workers,” University of Wisconsin Law School Symposium, “The Constitutionalization of Labor and Employment Law,” Madison, Wis. (October 2011)
- Presenter, “Reconsidering Title VII as a Vehicle for Resolving Disputes of Transnational Workers,” Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge, “Worlds of Work: Employment Dispute Resolution Systems Across the Globe,” Cambridge, England (July 2011)
- Presenter, “Lessons from the 1972-74 Strike and Boycott at Farah Manufacturing,” Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, “Restoring the Power of Unions,” San Francisco, Calif. (June 2011)
- Presenter, “Sexual Violence Against Farmworker Women: A Brief History,” University of San Francisco School of Law panel, “Injustice on Our Plates,” (April 2011)
- Presenter, “Building a Movement with Immigrant Workers - A Lesson from History,” Association of American Law Schools 2011 Annual Meeting, Section on Labor Relations and Employment Law Panel, “Author Meets Reader: Restoring the Power of Unions,” San Francisco, Calif. (January 2011)
- Presenter, “Review of United States Supreme Court and California Supreme Court Cases on Labor and Employment in the 2009-2010 Term,” Bar Association of San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif. (June 2010)
- Moderator, “Exercising Religion,” University of San Francisco Law Review Symposium, “The Future of Same-Sex Marriage,” (February 2010)
- Presenter, “Espinoza v. Farrah Mfg.: Understanding the Importance of Legal History,” University of San Francisco School of Law Labor and Employment Law Students Association, (October 2009)
- Presenter, “The Fight for Rights in the U.S.,” University of San Francisco School of Law Equal Justice Society and the Labor and Employment Law Student Association, (October 2009)
- Presenter, “The Politics of the Sonia Sotomayor Confirmation Process,” University of San Francisco School of Law Constitution Day, (September 2009)
- Presenter, “Review of Labor and Employment Cases Decided in the 2008-09 Term,” Bar Association of San Francisco, (July 2009)
- Presenter, “Immigrant Workers and the Thirteenth Amendment,” University of Chicago Law School Conference , “Slavery, Abolition, and Human Rights: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Thirteenth Amendment,” Chicago, Ill. (April 2009)
- Presenter, “Labor Coalition Challenges to Government Action: Defending the Civil Rights of Low Wage Workers,” University of San Francisco School of Law Faculty Teaching and Scholarship Workshop Series, (April 2009)
- Presenter, “Creative Lawyering: How We Can Make a Difference — Focusing Primarily on the World of Work Law,” University of San Francisco School of Law Justice Forum, (March 2009)
- Moderator, “ICE Raids: Raising Human Rights Issues in the Immigrant Worker Context,” University of San Francisco School of Law Symposium, “Evolving Definition of the Immigrant Worker: The Intersection Between Employment, Labor, and Human Rights Law,” (February 2009)
- Moderator, “New Legal Methods and Approaches for the Newly Defined Immigrant Worker,” University of San Francisco School of Law Symposium, “Evolving Definition of the Immigrant Worker: The Intersection Between Employment, Labor, and Human Rights Law,” (February 2009)
- Presenter, “The Importance of Teaching the 'Sui Generis' Cases,” Society of American Law Teachers Conference: Teaching for Social Change, Berkeley (March 2008)
- Presenter, “Women and Children First? New Strategies in Anti-trafficking Initiatives,” Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law symposium on gender equality and labor in the international context, Washington, D.C. (2005)
- Media
- Episode 101: The Thirteenth Amendment, Civics 101: A Podcast, New Hampshire Public Radio, 02/20/2018
- "Helping Farmworker Families Who Chase the Harvest", 90.3 KAZU, 12/17/2015
- "Nominee Embodies American Dream", Sun Sentinel, 05/27/2009
- "Fair Collective Bargaining", Executive Counsel, 06/01/2009
- "For Migrant Farmworkers, Educating Children Presents Wrenching Choices", KQED News, 11/17/2015
- "Migrant Farmworkers' Cost to Families", The California Report, 11/17/2015
- "Understanding California's Domestic Workers Rights Bill", City Visions Radio (KALW 91.7 FM), 03/13/2012
- Prof. Ontiveros on lawsuit over beating at Dodger Stadium, Daily Journal, 06/24/2011
- "Serving on the High Court", KCBS Radio, 07/13/2009
- Service
- Co-organizer, University of San Francisco School of Law Annual Jack Pemberton Lecture on Workplace Justice, San Francisco, CA (2012)
- Member, American Law Institute (2011)
- Organizer, The Jack Pemberton Legacy Event at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the USF School of Law, San Francisco, CA (2010)
- Member, Equal Rights Advocates Board of Directors (2010)
- Co-organizer, first meeting of the Labor and Employment Advisory Board (2010)
- Faculty Advisor, University of San Francisco Law Review 2009 Symposium "The Evolving Definition of the Immigrant Worker: The Intersection Between Employment, Labor, and Human Rights Law." (2009)
- Served on the Labor and Employment Law Capstone Project (2008)