diff --git a/src/slurmctld/job_mgr.c b/src/slurmctld/job_mgr.c
index 0ec8f4c53d2c2b822fac4c61266e058187a86b1e..d93c2b5b8372b9b1cca5efe36acfb8bb43b22617 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/job_mgr.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/job_mgr.c
@@ -1921,7 +1921,7 @@ static int _load_job_state(Buf buffer, uint16_t protocol_version)
 	job_ptr->time_min     = time_min;
 	job_ptr->total_cpus   = total_cpus;
 
-	if (job_state == JOB_PENDING)
+	if (IS_JOB_PENDING(job_ptr))
 		job_ptr->node_cnt_wag = total_nodes;
 	else
 		job_ptr->total_nodes  = total_nodes;
diff --git a/src/slurmctld/slurmctld.h b/src/slurmctld/slurmctld.h
index a8aa429354cf902d2c2ce0f1594f791e577a6986..10fe6f12b56680352a02f786ac1a04d0facef1a4 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/slurmctld.h
+++ b/src/slurmctld/slurmctld.h
@@ -625,8 +625,7 @@ struct job_record {
 					 * will be allocated when the
 					 * job is pending and node_cnt
 					 * wasn't given by the user.
-					 * Until 15.08 this needs to
-					 * be packed in total_nodes
+					 * This is packed in total_nodes
 					 * when dumping state.  When
 					 * state is read in check for
 					 * pending state and set this