A minimum wage increase approved by the Louisville Metro Council has been struck down by Kentucky's Supreme Court.
In a 6-1 ruling Thursday, court said the city's minimum wage ordinance is "invalid and unenforceable."
Louisville's council voted nearly two years ago to increase workers' wages to $9 per hour, phasing in the increases. Louisville became the first Kentucky city to increase minimum wages above the federal level of $7.25 an hour.
Louisville's ordinance was challenged in court by the Kentucky Restaurant Association, the Kentucky Retail Federation and local employer Packaging Unlimited.
In writing for the court's majority, Justice Bill Cunningham said the ordinance's conflict with state law is "precisely the type of 'conflict' prohibited by the state Constitution. His opinion drew a dissent from Justice Samuel T. Wright III.