Workers at a suburban nursing home that’s closing for good on Friday are still on the job, even though they say they haven't been paid.
"We are upset. We are angry. We have bills, kids to feed," said Lorri Tibble.
On Jan. 11, workers at Salem Village Nursing and Rehabilitation in Joliet said they received a letter telling them the facility would close March 15. Staffing and other challenges were cited as reasons why the privately run facility would shut down.
Tibble has worked at Salem for 40 years as the admissions director.
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"It was my life, my second home," she said.
Patients were relocated to other facilities while workers remained on the job. Last week, they said they didn’t get paid.
Now the workers said they're getting the runaround from the owner and the management company.
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"He told us he has no money and the facility is bankrupt, and he does not have the money to pay us," Tibble said.
"Nobody is giving us an answer," said Hector Hernandez, food service director. "We feel like they abandoned the place."
Workers said they were told that as long as they stayed on the job until March 15, they would get their normal pay and accrued benefits and unused vacation time, but now they don’t think that’s going to happen.
"We have two more payrolls coming up where we should be getting paid and we wont be getting paid," said Cammie Williams, the HR manager.
"We are sad," said Chalondria Boyd, floor nurse. "We are still showing up and having faith in him, that he is gong to pay us, and he has not."
NBC Chicago tried numerous attempts to reach the owner and the company that processes paychecks for the workers, but our calls and emails were not returned. In an email, the Illinois Department of Labor told NBC Chicago that it has received and is investigating multiple claims from several employees.
According to the online newsletter Roll Call, 188 nursing homes closed in the United States last year.
"I never thought in 40 years it would end this way," Tibble said.
