diff --git a/apps/app_queue.c b/apps/app_queue.c
index 2c36f08f7c..6889c66422 100644
--- a/apps/app_queue.c
+++ b/apps/app_queue.c
@@ -2899,7 +2899,7 @@ static int queue_exec(struct ast_channel *chan, void *data)
 	queuetimeoutstr = info_ptr;
 
 	/* set the expire time based on the supplied timeout; */
-	if (queuetimeoutstr)
+	if (!ast_strlen_zero(queuetimeoutstr))
 		qe.expire = qe.start + atoi(queuetimeoutstr);
 	else
 		qe.expire = 0;