Pilots found out they were losing their jobs in a conference call on a premium line that cost them $70

AIRLINE staff at collapsed airline Monarch were stunned after discovering they had been billed for being sacked over a conference call.

Monarch Airlines went into administration this week leaving 110,000 customers stranded.

FURIOUS Monarch staff discovered they were sacked in a premium rate conference call which cost them £40 ($A70).

Workers were charged 50p-a-minute (79 cents) to find out they were being axed after the British airline went bust this week, The Sun reports.

Staff were told if they could not attend 9am meetings they should ring in for a conference call to administrators KPMG at 2pm.

And the airline workers were stunned after discovering they had been billed for the one hour, 15 minute session.

‘It’s a bit of a kick in the teeth to find out you’ve lost your job and there’s a bill for £40 on top,’ said one pilot.

Monarch pilot Stuart said he had flown back late on Sunday night and was asked to come into the office for an announcement.

However, he said he was tired from his shift and was among 160 staff who dialled into a “long, laborious talk” about the airline’s collapse.

The furious pilot said staff were unable to ask questions and were ripped off “for listening to a message to say we’re effectively made redundant”.

Speaking to Shelagh Fogarty on LBC radio, Stuart said: “That’s around about £5,000 ($A8400) that someone has made out of it.

“We’ve been told we should expect something in the post but many of us haven’t received any paperwork.

He added: “It’s a bit of a kick in the teeth to find out you’ve lost your job and there’s a bill for £40 ($A70) on top.”

Monarch went bust on Monday leaving 110,000 Brits stranded overseas and needing rescue from a CAA assembled fleet.

KPMG said they had investigated and would give refunds after the move was branded “absolutely shameful” and “utterly sick”.

KPMG claimed they had no idea the premium rate number would have led people who called it to be charged by their mobile phone firms.

The British Airline Pilots Association alone said it had received 75 call-ins from furious members about the rip-off.

General secretary Brian Strutton told The Sun: “To have to pay to be told you have been sacked is absolutely shameful.

“People are absolutely incandescent about this. There are going to have been hundreds who phoned that number.

“They were told to call in for the conference call if they couldn’t get to the morning meetings.

“Because these are people who couldn’t actually attend they will have been out and about calling on their mobiles.

“Why it wasn’t a Freephone number I don’t know. There are going to be hundreds hit with similar bills for this.”

The message about the conference call was sent out by a senior manager at KPMG.

A KPMG spokesman said: “Having asked a third-party provider to set up a conference call for Monarch employees on the afternoon of our appointment, and agreeing to pay for that call facility, we have since been made aware that each of the participants was charged an additional sum by their phone company to join the call.

“We will ensure all participants are refunded any additional costs they incurred.”

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission.

Originally published as Pilots found out they were losing their jobs in a conference call on a premium line that cost them $70