diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 303ce8b3e..4bec59ef3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 ### Bug fixes:
 - Add `environment-ros3.yml` to `MANIFEST.in` for inclusion in source distributions. @rly (#1398)
+- Update HDMF minimum version to `3.1.2` to fix bug when converting the icephys metadata tables via `to_hierarchical_dataframe` when the tables contain indexed columns and add corresponding unit tests. @oruebel (#1404)
 
 ## PyNWB 2.0.0 (August 13, 2021)
 
diff --git a/requirements-min.txt b/requirements-min.txt
index f7adc6641..6ae932eeb 100644
--- a/requirements-min.txt
+++ b/requirements-min.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # minimum versions of package dependencies for installing PyNWB
 h5py==2.10  # support for selection of datasets with list of indices added in 2.10
-hdmf==3.1.1
+hdmf==3.1.2
 numpy==1.16
 pandas==1.0.5
 python-dateutil==2.7
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_icephys_metadata_tables.py b/tests/unit/test_icephys_metadata_tables.py
index d63e1ffb8..b7816af61 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_icephys_metadata_tables.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_icephys_metadata_tables.py
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 from pynwb.base import TimeSeriesReferenceVectorData
 from pynwb import NWBHDF5IO
 from hdmf.utils import docval, popargs
+from pynwb.testing import create_icephys_testfile
+from hdmf.common.hierarchicaltable import to_hierarchical_dataframe
 
 
 class ICEphysMetaTestBase(TestCase):
@@ -889,6 +891,61 @@ def test_enforce_unique_id(self):
         with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
             cond.add_experimental_condition(repetitions=[0, ], id=np.int64(10))
 
+    def test_to_hierarchical_dataframe(self):
+        # test that to_hierarchical_dataframe works for the icephys tables when only containing regular VectorData
+        nwbfile = create_icephys_testfile()
+        temp = to_hierarchical_dataframe(nwbfile.icephys_experimental_conditions)
+        expected_index = [
+            (100000, 32.0, 10000, 'R1', 1000, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 100, 0),
+            (100000, 32.0, 10000, 'R1', 1000, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 100, 0),
+            (100000, 32.0, 10000, 'R1', 1000, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 101, 1),
+            (100000, 32.0, 10000, 'R1', 1000, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 101, 1),
+            (100000, 32.0, 10001, 'R2', 1001, 'StimType_2', 'T2', 102, 2),
+            (100000, 32.0, 10001, 'R2', 1001, 'StimType_2', 'T2', 102, 2),
+            (100000, 32.0, 10001, 'R2', 1001, 'StimType_2', 'T2', 102, 2),
+            (100000, 32.0, 10001, 'R2', 1002, 'StimType_3', 'T3', 103, 3),
+            (100000, 32.0, 10001, 'R2', 1002, 'StimType_3', 'T3', 103, 3),
+            (100000, 32.0, 10001, 'R2', 1002, 'StimType_3', 'T3', 103, 3),
+            (100001, 24.0, 10002, 'R1', 1003, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 104, 4),
+            (100001, 24.0, 10002, 'R1', 1003, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 104, 4),
+            (100001, 24.0, 10002, 'R1', 1003, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 105, 5),
+            (100001, 24.0, 10002, 'R1', 1003, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 105, 5),
+            (100001, 24.0, 10003, 'R2', 1004, 'StimType_2', 'T2', 106, 6),
+            (100001, 24.0, 10003, 'R2', 1004, 'StimType_2', 'T2', 106, 6),
+            (100001, 24.0, 10003, 'R2', 1004, 'StimType_2', 'T2', 106, 6),
+            (100001, 24.0, 10003, 'R2', 1005, 'StimType_3', 'T3', 107, 7),
+            (100001, 24.0, 10003, 'R2', 1005, 'StimType_3', 'T3', 107, 7),
+            (100001, 24.0, 10003, 'R2', 1005, 'StimType_3', 'T3', 107, 7)]
+        self.assertListEqual(temp.index.tolist(), expected_index)
+
+    def test_to_hierarchical_dataframe_with_indexed_custom_column(self):
+        # test that to_hierarchical_dataframe works for the icephys tables when containing also VectorIndex columns
+        nwbfile = create_icephys_testfile()
+        nwbfile.icephys_experimental_conditions.add_column('newcol', 'abc', data=[1, 2, 3], index=[2, 3])
+        temp = to_hierarchical_dataframe(nwbfile.icephys_experimental_conditions)
+        expected_index = [
+            (100000, 32.0, (1, 2), 10000, 'R1', 1000, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 100, 0),
+            (100000, 32.0, (1, 2), 10000, 'R1', 1000, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 100, 0),
+            (100000, 32.0, (1, 2), 10000, 'R1', 1000, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 101, 1),
+            (100000, 32.0, (1, 2), 10000, 'R1', 1000, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 101, 1),
+            (100000, 32.0, (1, 2), 10001, 'R2', 1001, 'StimType_2', 'T2', 102, 2),
+            (100000, 32.0, (1, 2), 10001, 'R2', 1001, 'StimType_2', 'T2', 102, 2),
+            (100000, 32.0, (1, 2), 10001, 'R2', 1001, 'StimType_2', 'T2', 102, 2),
+            (100000, 32.0, (1, 2), 10001, 'R2', 1002, 'StimType_3', 'T3', 103, 3),
+            (100000, 32.0, (1, 2), 10001, 'R2', 1002, 'StimType_3', 'T3', 103, 3),
+            (100000, 32.0, (1, 2), 10001, 'R2', 1002, 'StimType_3', 'T3', 103, 3),
+            (100001, 24.0, (3,), 10002, 'R1', 1003, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 104, 4),
+            (100001, 24.0, (3,), 10002, 'R1', 1003, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 104, 4),
+            (100001, 24.0, (3,), 10002, 'R1', 1003, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 105, 5),
+            (100001, 24.0, (3,), 10002, 'R1', 1003, 'StimType_1', 'T1', 105, 5),
+            (100001, 24.0, (3,), 10003, 'R2', 1004, 'StimType_2', 'T2', 106, 6),
+            (100001, 24.0, (3,), 10003, 'R2', 1004, 'StimType_2', 'T2', 106, 6),
+            (100001, 24.0, (3,), 10003, 'R2', 1004, 'StimType_2', 'T2', 106, 6),
+            (100001, 24.0, (3,), 10003, 'R2', 1005, 'StimType_3', 'T3', 107, 7),
+            (100001, 24.0, (3,), 10003, 'R2', 1005, 'StimType_3', 'T3', 107, 7),
+            (100001, 24.0, (3,), 10003, 'R2', 1005, 'StimType_3', 'T3', 107, 7)]
+        self.assertListEqual(temp.index.tolist(), expected_index)
+
 
 class NWBFileTests(TestCase):
     """