Former employees of Ellis Fairbank, the Leeds-based executive recruiter that was sold to IHR Group after it went into administration on 21 October, are still owed more than £200,000 in unpaid wages and compensation, it is claimed.

Ellis Fairbank released a statement on 22 October saying joint administrator KPMG sold parts of the business and assets to IHR Group, securing 110 jobs.

Two of the directors of IHR Group, Jason Martin and Harry Cross, are also directors of Ellis Fairbank.

However, ex-employees who lost their jobs between June 2007 and 3 October 2008 have accused Ellis Fairbank of failing to pay them outstanding money, including unpaid compensation awarded to senior executives who took Ellis Fairbank to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal.

Two former directors, David Hall and Abe Avdiyovsi, both won the maximum amount of comp en sation for unfair dismissal, £63,020, plus extra costs for the behaviour of Ellis Fairbank, as well as costs, at the tribunal in July 2007.

However, both men told Recruiter they had still not received their compensation.

A former senior employee of Ellis Fairbank — one of 24 staff dismissed on October 3 — claimed she has not been paid salary owed, holiday pay, commission, and statutory redundancy pay.

“It’s disgusting and unbelievable. They cannot be allowed to get away with this behaviour,” she told Recruiter.

Another former senior executive also claimed that staff dismissed on 3 October had yet to hear when they would be paid for their last two weeks’ work.

Nor had they been told when they would get the money or their statutory redundancy pay, she claimed.

The woman, who won a claim for unfair dismissal and breach of contract at an employment tribunal earlier this month, told Recruiter that KPMG had told her she was unlikely to receive any of the money owed.

Both women have asked not to be named.

KPMG confirmed that all the employment tribunal claimants, as well as those dismissed on October 3 2008 were unsecured creditors. This puts them behind secured creditors in the queue for any money left over.

Harry Cross, a former director at Ellis Fairbank and a director of IHR Group, told Recruiter: “The company went in to administration after a year of trying to refinance the business.”

However, he said the credit crunch “delayed refinancing” and “just as we had the final refinancing offers, our business fell by 20%.

“The effect was immediate. This is why the company went into adm in - istration.

“The allegations are utterly groundless and under the circumstances offensive,” he added.