The highest number of casualties from the Dec. 10 tornadoes were in a candle factory in Western Kentucky where 110 people were working when the storm hit. Here’s what we know about it.
▪ Mayfield Consumer Products LLC made candles, candle accessories and home fragrance products inside its factory at 112 Industrial Drive in Mayfield. MCP recently ranked as Graves County’s third-largest private employer, although its employment total — sometimes exceeding 200 — could vary depending on the economy and seasonal demand for its products, with Christmas being a busy time.
▪ The candle factory was hiring, advertising 10-hour and 12-hour shifts that started at $8 an hour — 75 cents more than minimum wage. The afternoon shift began at 5 p.m. “Mandatory overtime will be required frequently, either by extending your shift or working on Friday,” the company told potential job applicants.
▪ Western Kentucky native Mary V. Propes, now 69, decades ago founded MVP Group International. The company opened the Mayfield candle factory as well as other consumer product manufacturers, with operations in different states and related business ventures in China and India. In 2000, MVP Group International moved its headquarters from Mayfield to Charleston, S.C., where Mary V. Propes had taken up residence.
▪ The Propes family announced in 2018 that it had divested its interest in MVP Group International while retaining family ownership of Mayfield Consumer Products. Troy Propes, Mary’s son, would serve as chief executive officer, a post he still holds.
▪ In 2008, citing a weak economy and flagging post-Christmas demand, Mayfield Consumer Products laid off 91 workers at the Mayfield candle factory — at the time, 42 percent of its total workforce. But in 2011 and 2018, as the economy improved, the Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet authorized a total of up to $1.5 million in tax incentives in exchange for the company adding up to 68 jobs at the factory.
▪ In 2019, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected the candle factory and issued a report identifying 12 violations, seven of them labeled as “serious,” carrying a total of $16,350 in fines. The citations listed problems with electrical protective equipment; maintenance, safeguards and operational features for exit routes; and personal protective equipment.
▪ In 2019, Mary V. Propes told a visiting then-Gov. Matt Bevin that the candle factory could not find enough workers to satisfy market demand for its products, according to a story at that time in The Mayfield Messenger. “One of our biggest problems is labor, and labor is everything,” Propes told the governor.
▪ Earlier this year, the Graves County jailer told the Paducah Sun that he would provide “an inmate-to-business work program” to supply labor at the candle factory. When a tornado destroyed the factory late Friday, seven jail inmates were working inside. All survived, although one later took the opportunity to escape, and a deputy jailer who was at the factory to monitor the inmates was among the many killed inside the building.
▪ Also this year, Mayfield Consumer Products convinced an appellate court to uphold the dismissal of a civil rights lawsuit filed by Armando Rivera Hernandez, a laborer whom the company recruited in Puerto Rico. Hernandez said he was fired for being overweight after the company’s chief financial officer sent out a text message stating: “We are working diligently to clean up the epileptic, obese, pregnant, and special needs issues[.]”
The courts ruled that Hernandez, having signed a labor agreement with the company and having later been returned to Puerto Rico, should not have access to Kentucky courts. Instead, the courts said, he should have pursued his grievance through an employment service office, as his labor agreement required.
▪ In a statement on the company’s website this weekend, Troy Propes wrote: “Our Mayfield, Ky., facility was destroyed Dec. 10, 2021, by a tornado, and tragically, employees were killed and injured. We’re heartbroken about this, and our immediate efforts are to assist those affected by this terrible disaster.
“Our company is family-owned and our employees, some who have worked with us for many years, are cherished. We’re immediately establishing an emergency fund to assist our employees and their families,” Propes wrote. “We’re grateful to the first responders who heroically assisted our employees following the storm. And we’re thankful for those who are generously offering to assist us. Your prayers are needed and appreciated.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2021 2:56 PM.
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