The family of a Tennessee factory worker who was killed during Hurricane Helene is suing the company and its CEO — claiming that the bosses sneaked out of the factory to escape catastrophic weather conditions while they ordered employees to stay.
According to an explosive lawsuit filed by Peterson’s family on Monday in Tennessee state court, the facility’s managers denied employees’ pleas to leave work as the hurricane bore down on the area.
That’s despite the fact that workers began receiving notifications from the National Weather Service around 10 a.m. urging all who could to evacuate to higher ground, according to the suit.
Around 10:30 a.m., company managers told employees to move their cars because the parking lot was flooding, the suit claims.
An hour later at 11:35 a.m., senior management including Impact Plastics founder and CEO Gerald O’Connor had “stealthily exited the building,” according to court papers.
Workers had assumed they also were allowed to go home as local schools and other businesses announced closures because of Hurricane Helene, the suit alleges.
Instead, Impact Plastics allegedly instructed its employees to report to work because the company “wanted to meet order deadlines,” court documents show.
It wasn’t until water had flooded the plant’s parking lot and the power went out that managers sent workers home, the suit claims.
The 28-page suit argues that Impact Plastics had no required plan to safely evacuate employees — even though the plant was located in a flood plain and regularly experienced water creeping into its parking lot.
“Impact Plastics was aware of the flood risks, and while employees requested permission to leave, the company failed to act. We will hold them accountable.”
