ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that workers cannot be fired for refusing to share tips.

In a divided opinion, the court ruled Wednesday in favor of a bartender fired from Bunny’s Bar & Grill in St. Louis Park. Todd Burt was told he needed to give more of his tips to table bussers. Burt refused and was fired.

He sued for wrongful termination and cited a Minnesota law barring employers from requiring workers to share tips.

Bunny’s argued the law did not prohibit businesses from firing workers who refused to share tips.

The Star Tribune reports the state Supreme Court found that Burt should not have been fired.

Justice Natalie Hudson wrote that threatening to fire an employee for failing to do something amounts to “coercion by the employer.”