Kentucky Factory Workers Told They’d be Fired if They Left Ahead of Deadly Tornado

Supervisors with a candle factory warned employees that they would be fired if they left work early as a catastrophic tornado approached.

On Friday, multiple employees with the Mayfield Consumer Products factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, requested to leave work early in the hours ahead of a dangerous storm. Warning sirens were sounded, indicating the deteriorating weather conditions. However, at least five employees have confirmed that managers threatened workers with termination if they left early. Several employees ignored the threats and went to take shelter elsewhere. Sadly, at least eight people lost their lives in the plant when the tornado leveled the building.

One employee, 21-year-old McKayla Emery, gave an interview from her hospital bed, where she revealed that employees first began requesting to leave around 5:30 p.m. after the first tornado warning sounded outside. Staff gathered in the bathroom and hallways, and once the immediate threat passed, they were eager to leave the building. Emery says she heard managers tell four workers, “If you leave, you’re more than likely to be fired.”

Hours following that initial alarm, as many as 15 workers asked to leave but were continuously told they’d be terminated. Another employee, 20-year-old Elijah Johnson, was also a part of a group that was informed they’d be fired if they walked out. He said managers even began taking roll call to see who had left.

Bob Ferguson, a spokesman for Mayfield Consumer Products, has called the employees’ claims “absolutely untrue.” He says that the company policy allows employees to leave at any time if needed and return the following day.

On Monday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear confirmed that 74 people were confirmed dead, and at least 100 people remain unaccounted for in his state, with Mayfield being hit the hardest. At least 36 tornadoes touched down in more than six states across the Central and southern United States. The National Weather Service issued 150 tornado warnings Friday night into Saturday morning. Eight of them were designated as “tornado emergencies,” the most severe form of tornado warning.