The City of Vancouver has lost a legal battle over paying firefighters sick days, the latest development in a years-long dispute that found the city broke provincial law.

The city had asked the B.C. Labour Relations Board (LRB) to review an arbitrator’s January 2023 decision that found Vancouver had denied firefighters required sick leave.

In a decision made last week, the LRB sided with the arbitrator and dismissed the city’s application.

No estimate of the total amount the city must pay was given.

“It’s been a challenging process,” Lee Lax, vice-president of IAFF Local 18, which represents more than 800 firefighters in Vancouver, told CBC News on Wednesday.

“We remain hopeful that, like all employees in British Columbia, we will continue to have access to employer paid sick days as prescribed in the Employment Standards Act.”