diff --git a/src/slurmctld/read_config.c b/src/slurmctld/read_config.c
index c9d3effe8821b85ca9d6bf3f1a78864201da5726..e62a578e40c11223c6c153edc0122171187cbfb8 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/read_config.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/read_config.c
@@ -1980,7 +1980,8 @@ static int _sync_nodes_to_active_job(struct job_record *job_ptr)
 		}
 	}
 
-	if (IS_JOB_RUNNING(job_ptr) || IS_JOB_SUSPENDED(job_ptr))
+	if ((IS_JOB_RUNNING(job_ptr) || IS_JOB_SUSPENDED(job_ptr)) &&
+	    (job_ptr->front_end_ptr != NULL))
 		job_ptr->front_end_ptr->job_cnt_run++;
 
 	return cnt;