diff --git a/lib/galaxy/jobs/runners/util/pykube_util.py b/lib/galaxy/jobs/runners/util/pykube_util.py
index a86601c324f..0203b9f5046 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/jobs/runners/util/pykube_util.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/jobs/runners/util/pykube_util.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ def produce_unique_k8s_job_name(app_prefix=None, instance_id=None, job_id=None):
     if app_prefix:
         job_name += "%s-" % app_prefix
 
-    if instance_id and instance_id > 0:
+    if instance_id and len(instance_id) > 0:
         job_name += "%s-" % instance_id
 
     return job_name + job_id