The Connecticut Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court ruling that restaurant delivery drivers can't be paid below minimum wage just because they receive tips.

The 7-0 April 4 decision by the state's high court is a blow for Amaral Brothers Inc., which filed a petition with the state Labor Department in 2013 seeking a determination that it could pay its approximately 40 delivery drivers below the minimum wage, which is now $10.10 an hour. Amaral Brothers operates Domino's pizza franchises in Groton and Mystic.

Amaral Brothers had argued the state's minimum wage statute for delivery drivers should be exempt, as it is for restaurant waitstaff. The company appealed to the state's high court after the labor commissioner and later New Britain Superior Court Judge Carl J. Schuman rejected that argument.