diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_test.go
index 6959e65354d..7ceeb93660a 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_test.go
@@ -1596,6 +1596,12 @@ func syncAndVerifyPodDir(t *testing.T, testKubelet *TestKubelet, pods []*v1.Pod,
 	kl.podManager.SetPods(pods)
 	kl.HandlePodSyncs(pods)
 	kl.HandlePodCleanups()
+	// The first time HandlePodCleanups() is run the pod is placed into the
+	// podKiller, and bypasses the pod directory cleanup. The pod is
+	// already killed in the second run to HandlePodCleanups() and will
+	// cleanup the directories.
+	time.Sleep(2 * time.Second)
+	kl.HandlePodCleanups()
 	for i, pod := range podsToCheck {
 		exist := dirExists(kl.getPodDir(pod.UID))
 		assert.Equal(t, shouldExist, exist, "directory of pod %d", i)
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_volumes.go b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_volumes.go
index 96e81ce00a5..9396a5c62c4 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_volumes.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_volumes.go
@@ -133,6 +133,11 @@ func (kl *Kubelet) cleanupOrphanedPodDirs(pods []*v1.Pod, runningPods []*kubecon
 		if allPods.Has(string(uid)) {
 			continue
 		}
+		// if the pod is within termination grace period, we shouldn't cleanup the underlying volumes
+		if kl.podKiller.IsPodPendingTerminationByUID(uid) {
+			klog.V(3).InfoS("Pod is pending termination", "podUID", uid)
+			continue
+		}
 		// If volumes have not been unmounted/detached, do not delete directory.
 		// Doing so may result in corruption of data.
 		// TODO: getMountedVolumePathListFromDisk() call may be redundant with