TAMPA -- A bankruptcy court judge today authorized HRK Holdings LLC to pay its employees $42,500 in back pay, and also OK'd payment of salaries for two top officers of the company, pending a hearing next week.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge K. Rodney May granted a request by HRK's attorneys to allow distribution of payroll to 15 employees, pending a more extensive hearing set for July 12.

After learning that the company's top officers were negotiating to sell some of its property to an unnamed buyer for $5.8 million, the judge also OK'd salary payments to Chief Executive Officer Jordan Levy, who earns $225,000 annually, and to the chief financial officer, who earns $130,000 annually.

The emergency hearing was the first formal step in HRK’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, which largely stemmed from expenses associated with leaks in the liner of a gypsum stack last year at the company's Piney Point facility in Palmetto.