Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine settles class-action lawsuit over back wages
Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine settled a class-action lawsuit Friday filed by a former employee of the well-known sushi restaurant.
As part of the settlement, Kru agreed to pay $700,000 to resolve claims over wages, according to court filings.
The suit, filed by former employee Jongbyuk Kim on July 31, 2024, in Sacramento County Superior Court, contended that Kru Partners, LLLC had failed to pay overtime and correct sick time wages to its hourly workers. In the complaint, Kim said he was also forced to complete tasks at the restaurant despite being off the clock. Kim worked for Kru from February 2024 until April 2024.
The complaint stated that, in addition, workers “routinely experienced missed, late, short, and interrupted meal periods in order to keep up with the fast-paced nature of working in a busy restaurant and due to understaffing.”
The settlement covers 321 non-exempt individuals who were employed between February 2020 and August 2025.
An initial settlement agreement was reached in August and approved in January. The settlement requires Kru to pay $300,000 within 10 days with the remainder to be paid in installments by September 2027. In addition to paying back wages, part of the settlement money will go toward attorneys’ fees.
Kru was founded in 2005 by owner Billy Ngo. It moved from its J Street location to its current spot at 3135 Folsom Blvd. in late 2016.
Ngo’s restaurant drew legal attention in 2020 when he and co-founder Peter Kwong sued their business partners, alleging the partners used restaurant profits to financially prop up other businesses. That suit was settled in 2021, according to the Sacramento Business Journal.
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