DAMAGES

Candle Factory Employees Set to Sue Over Bosses’ Claims in Wake of Deadly Tornado

At least three employees have reached out to a D.C. attorney to allege employees were forced to work through a tornado warning.

Several survivors who were in the Kentucky candle factory decimated by Friday’s deadly tornado plan to sue their employer over claims they were forced to stay at work as the disaster loomed. After at least eight of 110 workers at the factory died, Mayfield Consumer Products denied claims that workers weren’t allowed to leave the facility before the tornado hit or that workers were threatened with their jobs if they did. But D.C. lawyer Amos Jones told the Louisville Courier Journal that three employees, including 20-year-old Elijah Jacobson, believe the company lied in those public statements. Jones said he has sent multiple cease-and-desist letters to company personnel, including CEO Troy Propes and spokesman Bob Ferguson, and he plans to file a suit.

Ferguson hit back, saying the company hasn’t received anything yet. “We understand we live in a very litigious world and are not surprised that profit-seeking litigators are already poring over this area,” he said.