diff --git a/kernel/sched/fair.c b/kernel/sched/fair.c
index eeed8e34be9e..26958431deb7 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/fair.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/fair.c
@@ -3956,7 +3956,11 @@ static void update_cfs_group(struct sched_entity *se)
 	struct cfs_rq *gcfs_rq = group_cfs_rq(se);
 	long shares;
 
-	if (!gcfs_rq)
+	/*
+	 * When a group becomes empty, preserve its weight. This matters for
+	 * DELAY_DEQUEUE.
+	 */
+	if (!gcfs_rq || !gcfs_rq->load.weight)
 		return;
 
 	if (throttled_hierarchy(gcfs_rq))