diff --git a/internal/controller/nodemaintenance_controller.go b/internal/controller/nodemaintenance_controller.go
index c55da0a..ffb68ae 100644
--- a/internal/controller/nodemaintenance_controller.go
+++ b/internal/controller/nodemaintenance_controller.go
@@ -535,9 +535,8 @@ func (r *NodeMaintenanceReconciler) handleReadyState(ctx context.Context, reqLog
 		return res, err
 	}
 
-	// set ready-time annotation
-	if !metav1.HasAnnotation(nm.ObjectMeta, ReadyTimeAnnotation) ||
-		nm.Annotations[ReadyTimeAnnotation] == "" {
+	// set ready-time annotation if not present on not set
+	if nm.Annotations[ReadyTimeAnnotation] == "" {
 		metav1.SetMetaDataAnnotation(&nm.ObjectMeta, ReadyTimeAnnotation, time.Now().UTC().Format(time.RFC3339))
 		err := r.Update(ctx, nm)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/internal/podcompletion/podcompletion.go b/internal/podcompletion/podcompletion.go
index 3f29160..7843565 100644
--- a/internal/podcompletion/podcompletion.go
+++ b/internal/podcompletion/podcompletion.go
@@ -63,9 +63,8 @@ func (p *podCompletionHandler) HandlePodCompletion(ctx context.Context, reqLog l
 	var err error
 	var startTime time.Time
 
-	if !metav1.HasAnnotation(nm.ObjectMeta, WaitForPodCompletionStartAnnot) ||
-		nm.Annotations[WaitForPodCompletionStartAnnot] == "" {
-		// set waitForPodCompletion time annotation
+	if nm.Annotations[WaitForPodCompletionStartAnnot] == "" {
+		// set waitForPodCompletion time annotation if not set or empty
 		startTime = time.Now().UTC()
 		metav1.SetMetaDataAnnotation(&nm.ObjectMeta, WaitForPodCompletionStartAnnot, startTime.Format(time.RFC3339))
 		err = p.k8sclient.Update(ctx, nm)
diff --git a/internal/podcompletion/podcompletion_test.go b/internal/podcompletion/podcompletion_test.go
index 60a64fd..364402f 100644
--- a/internal/podcompletion/podcompletion_test.go
+++ b/internal/podcompletion/podcompletion_test.go
@@ -77,7 +77,6 @@ var _ = Describe("podcompletion tests", func() {
 
 			Expect(fakeClient.Get(testCtx, client.ObjectKeyFromObject(nm), nm)).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
 			Expect(nm.Status.WaitForCompletion).To(Equal([]string{"default/test-pod"}))
-			Expect(metav1.HasAnnotation(nm.ObjectMeta, podcompletion.WaitForPodCompletionStartAnnot)).To(BeTrue())
 			t1, e := time.Parse(time.RFC3339, nm.Annotations[podcompletion.WaitForPodCompletionStartAnnot])
 			Expect(e).ToNot(HaveOccurred())