A battle is brewing over parking at Metro Vancouver's first outlet mall, where employees are being asked to spend almost $70 a month to drive to work.

McArthurGlen Designer Outlet is a little out of the way, located on Sea Island near Vancouver International Airport, but the shopping centre boasts of a free parking lot with roughly 2,000 spaces.

Workers aren't allowed to park there, however, and the nearest lot at the Templeton Canada Line station costs $69.88 – a steep price, particularly for low-wage or part-time employees.

"I can buy a lot of groceries for $70 a month," said Sandra Hum, who works part-time at a jewelry store in the mall. "The people that work here work retail. We're not paid a lot."

Some employees have been flouting the rules and leaving their cars at a nearby patch of land, but the area belongs to YVR and the airport has already asked them to stop.

A spokesperson told CTV News the airport plans to install pay parking on the road adjacent to the mall, and that a third-party company, Impark, will be monitoring the spots.

Usually, suburban malls, including Metrotown in Burnaby and Guildford Town Centre in Surrey, let employees park for free, and Hum said she doesn't understand why McArthurGlen doesn't do the same, since its massive lot is rarely close to capacity.

"Boxing Day, Black Friday I can see it being an issue, but that's the same with every mall you go to," Hum told CTV News.

"I feel like they're not supporting us."

But according to the mall, the situation is more complicated than that.

"McArthurGlen does operate in a much different environment than a suburban mall," a public relations person said in an email. "They are on airport property and all Sea Island employees including those who work at McArthurGlen centre are required to park in the designated employee lots or make use of the Canada Line."

Templeton Station is about a half-kilometre away from the mall, and Hum said she’s uncomfortable walking there alone in the dark after closing up the store.

Workers are getting stressed out about the situation, she added, and if management can’t figure out a solution she believes the mall could have trouble attracting and keeping employees.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Penny Daflos