An employment tribunal claim brought by former employees of the now defunct European arm of international firm King & Wood Mallesons will proceed, the Gazette has learned. 

In a statement to the Gazette, a spokesperson for administrators Quantuma confirmed that the firm’s EU arm and the firm itself were respondents in the case.

The spokesperson added: ‘The administrators on behalf of the firms in administration will be responding shortly and will provide details of the consultation process undertaken by the firms.’

Regional firm Herington Carmichael is representing the aggrieved former staff. It declined to comment.

The claim is understood to relate to King & Wood Mallesons alleged failure to enter a formal consultation process before making redundancies. Businesses are required to do this if they make more than 100 redundancies at any one time.

The claim, originally brought in April, had reportedly been held up by IT issues at the Employment Tribunal Service.

The EU arm of the firm collapsed into administration in January this year. A procession of partners had already departed the ailing business amid reports its debts stood at around £30 million.

In an administration report published earlier this year it was revealed that professional advisers including law firms and data management companies stood to earn more than £1 million from the collapse.

According to Quantuma, 13 professional advisers were retained to help with the restructuring including law firms CMS Cameron McKenna, Ashfords and Pinsent Masons as well as pension specialists and a confidential documents disposal company.

Any successful claim in the employment tribunal would have to be paid through the Insolvency Service Redundancy Payments Service, for people made redundant when their employer goes bust. The maximum this can pay is £489 per week.