Candle Factory Employees Said They Would Fired If They Left Work Early.
Employees in the candle factory destroyed in a tornado Friday told NBC News They wanted to leave when they heard the warning sirens sound but were told they would be fired for leaving their shifts early.
The Mayfield Consumer Products factory in western Kentucky was devastated by the tornado Friday night. Employees were on-site working the night shift making scented candles.
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NBC reports that when employees learned of the approaching storm and tornado sirens began to sound, up to 15 asked to be dismissed from work early to seek safety at home. Their requests were reportedly denied.
“If you leave, you are more than likely to get fired,” said McKayla Emery who overheard managers tell her co-workers. “I heard that with my own ears.”
The company denied allegations that workers’ jobs would be threatened if they left on Friday night.
Some people go between the first round of emergency sirens earlier in the evening and the second round of storms that ended up causing serious damage later in the evening, the Associated Press reports.
Workers said they had been told to huddle into a central hallway, the strongest part of the building when the storm approached.
The Kentucky governor said Sunday that the ferocity of the storm was so great that there was nowhere safe to hide inside the plant.
“It appears that most were taking shelter where they were told to take shelter,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “I hope that area is as safe as possible, but this thing was hit directly by the strongest tornado we could have imagined.”
A company spokesman said Sunday that eight of the 110 workers on Friday’s night shift are confirmed dead and another eight are missing. More than 90 have already been tallied, making the death toll lower than some had feared hours earlier.
“Many of the employees gathered at the tornado shelter and after the storm passed, they left the plant and went home,” said Bob Ferguson, a company spokesman. “With a power outage and no landline, it was difficult to get to the beginning.”
The factory employs many people in and around Mayfield, a city of approximately 10,000 people in the southwestern corner of Kentucky. It is the third-largest employer in Graves County, according to the county’s website. Even some inmates from the county jail worked there.
Scented candles made at the plant eventually hit the shelves of prominent retailers like Bath & Body Works.
Eric is a professional news editor, writer, and blogger for the last 10 years. He is working with NewsGater as an off-beat news editor cum writer.