diff --git a/lib/galaxy/jobs/runners/kubernetes.py b/lib/galaxy/jobs/runners/kubernetes.py
index 9a358c107acd..be3d4239ff79 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/jobs/runners/kubernetes.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/jobs/runners/kubernetes.py
@@ -739,7 +739,7 @@ def check_watched_item(self, job_state):
             # It is possible that k8s didn't account for the status of the pods
             # and they are in the uncountedTerminatedPods status. In this
             # case we also need to wait a moment
-            if len(job.obj["status"]) == 0 or "uncountedTerminatedPods" in job.obj["status"]:
+            if len(job.obj["status"]) == 0 or in job.obj["status"].get("uncountedTerminatedPods"):
                 return job_state
             if "succeeded" in job.obj["status"]:
                 succeeded = job.obj["status"]["succeeded"]