diff --git a/src/scancel/opt.c b/src/scancel/opt.c
index c27a366c3d0c1e4d5e6e1198f62ae84d848d4c3b..b1d7f679a91e92607a19b79ee65faef51508218d 100644
--- a/src/scancel/opt.c
+++ b/src/scancel/opt.c
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ _xlate_state_name(const char *state_name, bool env_var)
 {
 	uint32_t i = job_state_num(state_name);
 
-	if (i >= 0)
+	if (i != NO_VAL)
 		return i;
 
 	if (env_var) {
diff --git a/src/squeue/opts.c b/src/squeue/opts.c
index 3e45216de4223e4a84f280b88cd840cfcbd0ac5b..7d85dcce75190066d6952fc65733d8350c7d0337 100644
--- a/src/squeue/opts.c
+++ b/src/squeue/opts.c
@@ -481,7 +481,7 @@ _parse_state( char* str, uint32_t* states )
 	uint32_t i;
 	char *state_names;
 
-	if ((i = job_state_num(str)) >= 0) {
+	if ((i = job_state_num(str)) != NO_VAL) {
 		*states = i;
 		return SLURM_SUCCESS;
 	}