Although the claim is against William Sessions, Sessions Label Solutions, which bought the machinery division, Technoprint, which bought the commercial division and Paragon Labels (Wisbech), which took on the label division, are all named.

A date for the case has yet to be allocated, but Leeds Employment Tribunal said it was still waiting for two of the companies to respond.

Despite not having any involvement until after the administration, Sessions Label Solutions, Technoprint and Paragon Labels (Wisbech) have claims against them relating to failure to consult before redundancy and failure to comply with TUPE regulations.

According to the notice, "none of the respondents consulted with the claimants before the dismissals".

It states that they failed to comply with Regulation 13 of TUPE, which relates to the consultation and transfer of employees.

All three companies have dismissed the claims against them, owing to the fact that they were not involved with the business when redundancies, carried out by administrator P&A Partnership, took place.

Mark Lapping, Paragon Print and Packaging managing director, said: "This is very odd for us, we are not sure why Unite is doing this. We do not accept any validity in any claim and we will robustly defend our position."

Technoprint managing director Mark Snee added: "I am surprised and stunned that a company that offered continuity of employment, to people that would otherwise have been redundant now, faces action."

Sessions Label Solutions, which was a start-up company when it took on the machinery division, did not wish to comment.

At the time of writing, Unite was unavailable for comment.