Kentucky candle factory worker speaks out; tornado survivors hold candlelight vigil

An employee of the Kentucky candle factory where eight workers were killed by a tornado said Tuesday that a supervisor threatened her with written disciplinary action if she went home early because storms were approaching.

"They (the company) had from 6 o’clock to 9 o’clock to allow us to go home, to tell us really what was going on and that we needed to prepare ourselves for the worst," Conder told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "It was nothing like that. Not one supervisor told us what was really going on." "Not one supervisor told us what was really going on." "We’ll get to the bottom of what happened." "We followed our protocols exactly. Employees, if they decide they want to leave, they’re free to leave." "Some of us were just clueless. Unless family called us and let us know ... we had no idea it was coming for us at all."

A spokesman for the company insisted that employees were free to leave anytime.