Montgomery Y. Paek

Montgomery Paek represents corporations and management in all types of employment litigation including actions involving:

• The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Nevada minimum wage and overtime, and related wage and hour claims
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act claims for discrimination, harassment, and retaliation and claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
• Noncompetition covenants, nonsolicitation covenants and confidential information/trade secrets

Montgomery is lead counsel in complex and contentious high stakes employment litigation in class actions and collective actions, injunctions for noncompete and trade secrets, discrimination and harassment, and director and officer liability. In class actions, Montgomery has represented clients in over 50 collective and class actions from inception through successful appeal. In his appellate practice, Montgomery briefed, argued, and obtained a landmark class action decision before the en banc Nevada Supreme Court that established the statute of limitations for minimum wage claims in Nevada. Perry v. Terrible Herbst, Inc., 132 Nev. 767, 383 P.3d 257 (2016). He has also been appellate or amicus counsel in over a dozen appeals to the Nevada Supreme Court on multiple issues of first impression in wage and hour class actions including:

• Martel v. HG Staffing, LLC, 138 Nev. Adv. Op. 56, 519 P.3d 25 (2022) (prevailed on class action appeal that under NRS 608.018(3)(e)’s plain language, a CBA qualifies for the overtime exemption so long as it provides overtime in a different way or manner than NRS 608.018(1)-(2))
• MDC Restaurants, LLC v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 132 Nev. 774, 383 P.3d 262 (2016) (prevailed on class action appeal that under the Minimum Wage Amendment, health benefits need only be offered or made available for the employer to pay the lower-tier minimum wage)
• Valdez v. Cox Commc'ns Las Vegas, 130 Nev. 905, 336 P.3d 969 (2014) (prevailed on class action appeal dismissal that when a claim against a party is severed, that claim proceeds separately from the unsevered claims)

In noncompete and trade secrets cases, Montgomery has successfully argued, enforced, and prevented TROs and injunctions in cases involving c-suite executives and direct competitors against all manner of opposing counsel from hometown local firms to national Vault 100 firms. In addition, Montgomery has experience successfully:

• Obtaining decertification, dismissals, and summary judgments of class action and collective action cases in their entirety
• Enjoining and preventing emergency TROs and injunctive relief in relation to employee breaches of confidential information, solicitation, trade secrets, and noncompete agreements as well as in general commercial litigation matters
• Prevailing on summary judgment in Title VII and commercial litigation matters
• Prevailing on appeals and extraordinary writ relief in State and Federal appellate matters including issues of first impression for class actions and wage and hour law.
• Obtaining temporary and extended workplace protective orders on behalf of employers for threats of workplace violence

Montgomery has represented employers before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Nevada Supreme Court, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Nevada Equal Rights Commission (NERC), andthe Nevada Office of the Labor Commissioner. Additionally, he has represented clients in SOX whistleblowing actions before the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), the Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) at the Department of Labor (DOL), and in federal court.

Montgomery serves as the hiring shareholder for Littler’s Nevada offices. He has been a mentor in Littler’s SOAR (formerly Investment for Success) program as well as a mentor in the State Bar of Nevada’s TIP (Transitioning Into Practice) program. Montgomery has also served as the founding editor-in-chief for the Labor and Employment Law Section Newsletter of the State Bar of Nevada. Prior to joining Littler, he worked as a commercial litigator for a regional law firm.