diff --git a/src/slurmd/slurmstepd/mgr.c b/src/slurmd/slurmstepd/mgr.c
index 34a6bec059664be3a813d4cb8182499768365647..b9cb32a01a0ffd3408a7ce4bea1ecdd38f8e7f51 100644
--- a/src/slurmd/slurmstepd/mgr.c
+++ b/src/slurmd/slurmstepd/mgr.c
@@ -855,7 +855,6 @@ job_manager(slurmd_job_t *job)
 
 	if (rc) {
 		error("IO setup failed: %m");
-		step_complete.step_rc = MAX(step_complete.step_rc, 1);
 		job->task[0]->estatus = 0x0100;
 		step_complete.step_rc = 0x0100;
 		rc = SLURM_SUCCESS;	/* drains node otherwise */