State to probe Kentucky candle factory where workers say they were threatened with firing by Democrat managers

[Hilda and Jesse]

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday that state investigators
will probe the Mayfield candle factory where eight people died
in a catastrophic tornado and workers said they were threatened
with termination if they left their shifts early.

Beshear told reporters at a news conference that the inquiry
“shouldn’t suggest there was any wrongdoing.”

“But what it should give people confidence in is that we’ll get
to the bottom of what happened,” he said.

A time frame for the review by the state Occupational Safety and
Health Program wasn’t immediately clear. Beshear said such an
investigation doesn't happen "one day or a couple of days after"
an incident.

"Everyone is expected to live up to certain standards of both
the law, of safety and of being decent human beings," he said.
"I hope everybody lived up to those standards."

Five workers at the Mayfield Consumer Products factory said in
interviews that managers told employees that they would probably
lose their jobs if they went home.

In an interview from her hospital bed, McKayla Emery, 21, said
workers first asked to leave around 5:30, after tornado sirens
blared outside the plant.

"If you leave, you’re more than likely to be fired,” Emery
recalled overhearing managers tell four workers standing near
her. “I heard that with my own ears.”

Another employee, Haley Condor, said 15 people asked to leave
early. In response, managers took roll to determine who had
left, said Elijah Johnson, who also works at the factory.

"I asked to leave, and they told me I’d be fired,” Johnson said.

“Even with the weather like this, you’re still going to fire
me?” he said he asked.

“Yes,” a manager responded, Johnson said.

A company spokesman, Bob Ferguson, said Tuesday that the state
inquiry is "entirely appropriate."

"In such a catastrophic situation our regulators need to review
these things," Ferguson said, adding that an official of the
state agency arrived at the site Tuesday and was escorted around
the property.

Ferguson denied Monday that any workers were threatened, calling
the allegations "completely untrue."

“We’ve had a policy in place since Covid began," he said.
"Employees can leave any time they want to leave, and they can
come back the next day.”

Ferguson also denied that managers told employees that leaving
their shifts meant risking their jobs. Managers and team leaders
undergo a series of emergency drills that follow guidelines of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the federal
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, he said.

Beshear said Tuesday that 74 people had been confirmed dead
across the state and that 100 more remain unaccounted for.
Twelve of those who were killed were children, one of whom was 2
months old.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/state-probe-kentucky-candle-
factory-workers-say-threatened-firing-rcna8796