Biography

Nicole Marquez joined NELP as the director of social insurance in 2020. Using a racial equity framework and worker-centered approach, Nicole guides the Social Insurance team’s work in the areas of unemployment insurance, home health care, retirement security, and other social insurance programs. Nicole also advances NELP’s mission through strategic coordination between teams and engagement of allies and partners to uplift and improve working conditions and social insurance payments for Black and brown workers.

Her background has been focused on uplifting the experiences of marginalized communities and challenging institutional barriers to justice and equity, including her more recent role as the director of policy and legal services for Worksafe, the premier statewide legal services and support center in California and advocacy organization dedicated to eliminating hazards in the workplace. In this role, she led key coalition work which informed the organization’s policy priorities, provided critical technical assistance and training to legal aid attorneys and worker advocates to help support and improve workplace health and safety conditions, as well as mentored and supervised staff.

Nicole was also the Ruth Chance Law Fellow at Equal Rights Advocates, where she managed the law clerk program and represented primarily underpaid, immigrant women of color through direct legal service and impact litigation on issues involving pregnancy/leave discrimination, sexual harassment, and gender based discrimination in the workplace and schools.