$421,000 Lawsuit Against Salem Village: IL Attorney General

JOLIET — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has filed a civil lawsuit at the Will County Courthouse on behalf of several former employees of Joliet's now-closed Salem Village Nursing and Rehabilitation Center at 1314 Rowell Ave.

The lawsuit seeks a judgment in the plaintiff's favor of at least $420,765. The Illinois Attorney General named Salem Village as well as Makhlouf Suissa, Shoshana Aryeh, David Aryeh and Eric Rothner as the defendants.

According to Raoul's lawsuit in Will County, Makhlouf Suissa and Eric Rothner are managers with Salem Village while David and Shoshana Aryeyh are the owners of Salem Village.

Starting in March, the Illinois Department of Labor received a wage claim from 43 employees or former employees at Salem Village, alleging unpaid wages by their employer, Salem Village, during a period of Feb. 11 through March 15. In addition to that, the Illinois Department of Labor identified 74 more employees who were owed unpaid wages, the lawsuit outlined.

Raoul's lawsuit indicates that Salem Village "failed to comply with the provisions of the" Wage Payment and Collection Act and underpaid the lawsuit claimants in the amount of $350,839.

The lawsuit also contends that Salem Village "had knowledge of the underpayment ... in addition to the amount of base wages ... there is also unpaid vacation time owed to claimants."

According to the filing, Salem Village violated the Wage Payment and Collection Act by underpaying the lawsuit's claimants and Raoul is now seeking a judgment from Will County's judicial system for $350,839 for unpaid wages and another $69,926, consisting of 5 percent of the unpaid final compensation amount, accruing each month through the drafting of the lawsuit complaint.

"This penalty ... continues to accrue at $17,497 per month without limitation until judgment is entered," Raoul's lawsuit informed the courts.

In January, Joliet Patch published a story headlined, "Salem Village Sued Over Beating Death, Coroner Rules It 'Undetermined.'

In that story, Patch reported that a matter of days after Salem Village notified state of Illinois health care facility regulators that it is closing down its nursing home and rehabilitation center at 1314 Rowell Ave., the business was slapped with a civil wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Michael Pappas.

The lawsuit surrounds the Nov. 17 death of Michael Pappas. Joliet police initially arrested fellow Salem Village resident William "Bill" Paschall, age 71, on a charge of first-degree murder.

"Prior to November 17, 2023, Paschall was known to Salem Village staff as a resident with anger issues and a 'time bomb' who engaged in threatening, erratic and abusive behavior to staff and other Salem Village residents," the wrongful death lawsuit outlined. "In the presence of Salem Village staff, Paschall threatened Michael Pappas and then grabbed Michael out of his seated walker and began punching Michael in the head, knocking him to the ground."