Professor Allan Fels, the former ACCC chairman appointed last year to oversee the panel, launched a stinging attack on the embattled convenience store operator just hours after the company released a statement claiming the panel had agreed all wage claims would now be handled in-house.

In what is likely to become another public relations disaster for 7-Eleven, Professor Fels said there was no agreement to transition the claims process and that the panel was dumped so the company could minimise payouts to underpaid workers.

"They told me by phone today," he told the ABC'S 730. "I sat there and listened in silence. I didn't agree to that and I don't agree with what they're doing."

In a statement released on Wednesday night, Professor Fels said there had been some back-pay claims of $350,000 to $400,000 but that 7-Eleven had "applied great pressure" to the panel to keep these secret.

The independent panel was set up after a joint Fairfax Media and Four Corners investigation uncovered a major wage fraud scandal that included the systemic rorting of workers and falsification of payroll records.

Professor Fels told the ABC the relationship with the company broke down because the panel did not agree to proposed changes that would have stripped its independence. He said 7-Eleven had also attempted to discredit the panel by saying some processed claims were fraudulent, but that there was no evidence to support that theory.

The panel was established with the agreement that 7-Eleven management would have no involvement in its assessments and that the company could not overrule its decisions.

Professor Fels said removing the panel was "very bad news" for the compensation process, which has already seen hundreds of employees reimbursed about $12 million and of which there are a further 2000 claims that are yet to be processed.

He said the company was attempting to raise the standard of proof that workers needed to meet in order to show they had been exploited, which was impossible to do because most records had been falsified or destroyed.

Professor Fels fears claimants' confidential information will now be revealed and said and workers were terrified of franchisee retaliation.

"They don't trust 7-Eleven to manage any information it gets," he said. "They've been pressing us for weeks for the franchisees to be able see the evidence and that is a fundamental departure from everything and highly undesirable because there is, to this day going on, retaliation, intimidation, threats from the franchisees against the employees."

"They're going to be encouraged now to continue the intimidation and also I fear that lawless behaviour will return to 7-Eleven because they still don't get it."

In a statement posted on his Twitter account on Wednesday night, Professor Fels said the outcome was a "triumph for franchisees"

"We have heard from employees that franchisees have conducted a campaign to frighten employees from, making claims including, in some cases, with threats of physical intimidation but more often with dire threats of retaliation against them and their families of numerous kinds.

"We believe that they have also conducted a major campaign aimed at 7-Eleven with the intent to discredit the panel's activities by alleging fraudulent claims were being made. This is not the panel's impression from the numerous claims that it has assessed."