Owners of area Sonics fined for child labor violations

The young owners of Sonic Drive-In franchises in Northern Nevada, including locations in Carson City and Fallon, have been taking steps to comply with federal regulations after paying $71,182 in civil penalties for more than 170 violations of child labor laws, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

“They understood the nature of the violations, agreed they were in violation and agreed to take steps and future measures to make sure it wouldn’t happen again going forward,” Gene Ramos, Las Vegas district director of the DOL Wage and Hour Division, told the Appeal on Tuesday.

Ramos said the department’s goal is future compliance, and small companies aren’t always aware they’re in violation of federal law.

“The investigator who handled this educated the employer throughout the whole process,” Ramos told the Appeal. “A lot of times, the employer is not aware.”

According to a May 30 DOL press release, Taylor M. Cain, Ian N. Cain and Quinn M. Cain, owners of SDI of Neil LLC, paid the penalties after federal investigators found the company allowed 14- and 15-year-olds to work more hours than permitted and at times not permitted by federal child labor regulations and “assigned them to operate manual deep fryers, a task considered a hazardous occupation.”

“Specifically, investigators learned the Reno-based employer allowed the young workers to operate fryers without automatic fry baskets that move food in and out of hot oil and grease, which are prohibited jobs for workers under age 16,” reads the press release.

Investigators also discovered a 13-year-old was hired at one point, which the DOL said is illegal.

Ramos told the Appeal the investigation ran from September 2019 to the same month in 2021. Locations investigated included the Carson City Sonic at 1856 E. College Parkway; the Sonic in Fallon at 2070 Reno Highway; the Minden Sonic at 1652 N. Highway 395, which has since closed; two Sonics in Reno, one at 6250 S. Virginia St., and the other at 1220 N. McCarran Blvd.; and a Sonic in Sparks at 4995 Galleria Parkway.

The investigation found the company employed 14- and 15-year-old workers illegally before 7 a.m. and later than 7 p.m. on days between Labor Day and June 1 and later than 9 p.m. on days between June 1 and Labor Day, according to the release. Illegal employment also included “more than 3 hours per day on school days, more than 18 hours a week in a school week, more than 8 hours on a non-school day and more than 40 hours in a non-school week.” Additionally, $274 in overtime back wages and damages were recovered.

“While learning new skills in the workforce is valuable as teens grow up, federal law dictates how employers must protect children by making sure their first jobs are safe and that they do not interfere with their education or well-being,” Ramos said in the release. “The Fair Labor Standards Act allows for developmental experiences but restricts the employment of young workers in certain jobs and provides for penalties when employers do not follow the law.”

According to a 2020 article in the Northern Nevada Business Weekly, Taylor Cain had worked at Sonic as a teenager before she and her younger brothers took over the local franchises in 2017 after their father died. Cain was 26 at the time of the article. Her parents opened the family’s first Sonic in Northern Nevada in 1999.

Cain could not be reached for comment.

For information about employee rights, contact the toll-free helpline confidentially at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or visit https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd.