Mayfield Consumer Products (MCP) is under investigation for its labor practices after managers allegedly threatened to fire employees if they called off, or left, their shift during a series of tornadoes beginning on Dec. 10.
Eight workers died when the candle-making factory was destroyed during the tornadoes.
Kentucky Labor Cabinet, a division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and attorney John Caudill are investigating the facility after employees brought the alleged labor issues to their attention.
In a statement on Dec. 15, MCP’s ownership said it had retained an independent team to investigate the actions of its managers as they might have not been following safety protocols.
Following a series of powerful tornadoes throughout Kentucky and parts of the Midwest over the weekend, there have been at least 74 people confirmed dead in Kentucky, including the eight inside the factory, according to Gov. Andy Beshear’s (D) office.
factory uses strong chemicals for its scented candles, and a number of people suffered chemical burns.
Caudill said it was unknown if the company had an emergency plan in place.
A spokeswoman for the Kentucky Labor Cabinet told Pezou the company had an emergency action plan in place and employees had been trained on its emergency action plan, according to the labor cabinet.
“We have been made aware of workplace fatalities that occurred as a result of the catastrophic tornadoes that impacted the Mayfield area,” labor cabinet spokesperson Holly Neal told Pezou on Dec. 14. “An investigation into the events is underway and could take up to six months to complete.”
Caudill, who served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1989 to 2005, said he is focusing on the working conditions at MCP following the allegations against managers.
Caudill is based in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and said that he had been contacted by about “a half-dozen” employees who asked what their rights would be for not being allowed to call off work, or leave, after the tornado warnings.
“That’s horrific if it’s true,” said Caudill, who has represented workers who fell victim to discriminatory hiring practices under the Kentucky Civil Rights Act.
“I am hearing that there were a lot of workers who were nervous … about working that night.”
Many of the candle factory’s workers are from Puerto Rico and were inside working an overnight shift when the tornadoes ripped through the city of about 10,000 in southwestern Kentucky.
About 100 people were inside the building at the time.
workers were hired at $8 an hour for 10-hour to 12-hour shifts, more than the state’s minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
Bob Ferguson, an MCP spokesman who works for the Hawkbill Group in Washington, D.C., denied the allegations that managers said they would fire workers if they did not work.
company is owned by Mary Propes and its headquarters is in Charleston, South Carolina.
MCP has operations in different states, and related business ventures in China and India, Caudill said.
In a statement issued Dec. 14, the company’s CEO, Troy Propes, said, “We’re confident that our team leaders acted entirely appropriately and were, in fact, heroic in their efforts to shelter our employees.”
Propes added the company did not want to allow people to leave in the weather conditions with storms coming.
However, there were numerous reports from candle factory workers, who said they heard managers tell co-workers that “they could get fired” if they left on the night of the tornadoes.
“We are hearing accounts from a few employees that our procedures were not followed,” Propes said. “We’re going to do a thorough review of what happened, and we’re asking these experts to critique our emergency plans, and to offer any suggestions on ways they may be improved if any.”
Propes said that the company was giving $1,000 to each of its employees to help with expenses during their losses from the tornado.
Ferguson said that similar to the CCP (Communist China Party) virus pandemic, people didn’t have to work during the tornado warnings if they didn’t want to.
“I am looking into whether the company was negligent in its protocols or preventing the deaths or injuries of its workers,” Caudill added. “When did they know about the tornado? What safeguards did they have in place?”
When the tornado struck on Dec. 10, the workers huddled in a hallway and sheltered in place, according to Ferguson and Troy Propes.
re were conflicting reports of whether the company held emergency drills. company said it did.
MCP, which supplied candles to Bath and Body Works stores, was the third-largest employer in Graves County, according to the county’s website.
On March 8, 2019, the facility at 112 Industrial Drive in Mayfield was inspected by the Division of Compliance. inspection resulted in three serious and five lesser citations.
citations listed problems with electrical protective equipment; maintenance, safeguards, and operational features for exit routes; and personal protective equipment.
MCP was fined $16,350, but after a formal settlement agreement was reached on July 7, 2021, the fines were reduced to $9,810, according to labor cabinet information provided to the Pezou.
Pezou : Kentucky Candle Factory Under Investigation Following Tornado Deaths