'They Told Me I'd Be Fired:' Kentucky Candle Plant Workers Stayed During Tornado
At least eight people at a Kentucky candle manufacturer were killed in the devastating tornadoes which ripped through parts of the Midwest and South over the weekend, raising an important question: why were people still at work?
Answer: Some were told they’d be fired if they left.
“I asked to leave and they told me I’d be fired,” 20-year-old worker Elijah Johnson told NBC News. When he asked if that was the case “even with the weather like this,” a manager said yes, he said.
Employees at the candle factory heard tornado warning sirens hours before the tornado hit, and were ushered in bathrooms and hallways for safety, according to a report Monday by NBC News. But after the first warning had passed, they were told to go back to work—and some were rebuffed when they attempted to leave, according to several workers who spoke with NBC News.
As many as 15 workers asked to be let go so they could get home but their requests were denied, according to five employees of the candle factory who spoke with NBC News.
One of them was McKayla Emery, 21, who was seriously injured in the tornado and hospitalized after being hit in the head by concrete, suffering from chemical burns and damaged kidneys. Emery told NBC News she heard a supervisor tell four workers: “If you leave, you’re more than likely to be fired.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3n4p9/kentucky-candle-plant-workers-
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Managers, of course, are denying this and lying through their teeth.
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