diff --git a/src/plugins/job_submit/lua/job_submit_lua.c b/src/plugins/job_submit/lua/job_submit_lua.c
index 2231ff84b78838f7311fc9fa346c0fd57d382a38..b782d06b8b50bdff3cf0c48861de20c213b522ff 100644
--- a/src/plugins/job_submit/lua/job_submit_lua.c
+++ b/src/plugins/job_submit/lua/job_submit_lua.c
@@ -1805,7 +1805,8 @@ extern int job_submit(struct job_descriptor *job_desc, uint32_t submit_uid,
 	int rc = SLURM_ERROR;
 	slurm_mutex_lock (&lua_lock);
 
-	(void) _load_script();
+	if ((rc = _load_script()))
+		goto out;
 
 	/*
 	 *  All lua script functions should have been verified during