diff --git a/lib/internal/worker.js b/lib/internal/worker.js
index b6a7bbad671ecb..3cd5472b9341bd 100644
--- a/lib/internal/worker.js
+++ b/lib/internal/worker.js
@@ -224,8 +224,6 @@ class Worker extends EventEmitter {
   }
 
   terminate(callback) {
-    if (this[kHandle] === null) return;
-
     debug(`[${threadId}] terminates Worker with ID ${this.threadId}`);
 
     if (typeof callback === 'function') {
@@ -233,9 +231,12 @@ class Worker extends EventEmitter {
         'Passing a callback to worker.terminate() is deprecated. ' +
         'It returns a Promise instead.',
         'DeprecationWarning', 'DEP0132');
+      if (this[kHandle] === null) return Promise.resolve();
       this.once('exit', (exitCode) => callback(null, exitCode));
     }
 
+    if (this[kHandle] === null) return Promise.resolve();
+
     this[kHandle].stopThread();
 
     // Do not use events.once() here, because the 'exit' event will always be
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-worker-terminate-null-handler.js b/test/parallel/test-worker-terminate-null-handler.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..3807501de025f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-worker-terminate-null-handler.js
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const { Worker } = require('worker_threads');
+
+// Test that calling worker.terminate() if kHandler is null should return an
+// empty promise that resolves to undefined, even when a callback is passed
+
+const worker = new Worker(`
+const { parentPort } = require('worker_threads');
+parentPort.postMessage({ hello: 'world' });
+`, { eval: true });
+
+process.once('beforeExit', common.mustCall(() => {
+  console.log('beforeExit');
+  worker.ref();
+}));
+
+worker.on('exit', common.mustCall(() => {
+  console.log('exit');
+  worker.terminate().then((res) => assert.strictEqual(res, undefined));
+  worker.terminate(() => null).then(
+    (res) => assert.strictEqual(res, undefined)
+  );
+}));
+
+worker.unref();