diff --git a/pkg/api/validation/validation.go b/pkg/api/validation/validation.go
index 1dc8562a09a..87c86cf3c32 100644
--- a/pkg/api/validation/validation.go
+++ b/pkg/api/validation/validation.go
@@ -480,6 +480,11 @@ func ValidateReplicationControllerSpec(spec *api.ReplicationControllerSpec) errs
 		}
 		allErrs = append(allErrs, validateLabels(spec.Template.Labels).Prefix("template.labels")...)
 		allErrs = append(allErrs, ValidatePodTemplateSpec(spec.Template).Prefix("template")...)
+		// TODO: Provide better error message, current message is not intuitive:
+		// e.g. "spec.template.restartPolicy: invalid value '{<nil> <nil> 0xe68308}"
+		if spec.Template.Spec.RestartPolicy.OnFailure != nil || spec.Template.Spec.RestartPolicy.Never != nil {
+			allErrs = append(allErrs, errs.NewFieldInvalid("template.restartPolicy", spec.Template.Spec.RestartPolicy))
+		}
 	}
 	return allErrs
 }
diff --git a/pkg/api/validation/validation_test.go b/pkg/api/validation/validation_test.go
index c75bad7de36..31cc120a0b9 100644
--- a/pkg/api/validation/validation_test.go
+++ b/pkg/api/validation/validation_test.go
@@ -878,7 +878,11 @@ func TestValidateReplicationController(t *testing.T) {
 	invalidSelector := map[string]string{"NoUppercaseOrSpecialCharsLike=Equals": "b"}
 	invalidPodTemplate := api.PodTemplate{
 		Spec: api.PodTemplateSpec{
-			Spec: api.PodSpec{},
+			Spec: api.PodSpec{
+				RestartPolicy: api.RestartPolicy{
+					Always: &api.RestartPolicyAlways{},
+				},
+			},
 			ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{
 				Labels: invalidSelector,
 			},
@@ -979,6 +983,44 @@ func TestValidateReplicationController(t *testing.T) {
 				Template: &invalidPodTemplate.Spec,
 			},
 		},
+		"invalid restart policy 1": {
+			ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{
+				Name:      "abc-123",
+				Namespace: api.NamespaceDefault,
+			},
+			Spec: api.ReplicationControllerSpec{
+				Selector: validSelector,
+				Template: &api.PodTemplateSpec{
+					Spec: api.PodSpec{
+						RestartPolicy: api.RestartPolicy{
+							OnFailure: &api.RestartPolicyOnFailure{},
+						},
+					},
+					ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{
+						Labels: validSelector,
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		"invalid restart policy 2": {
+			ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{
+				Name:      "abc-123",
+				Namespace: api.NamespaceDefault,
+			},
+			Spec: api.ReplicationControllerSpec{
+				Selector: validSelector,
+				Template: &api.PodTemplateSpec{
+					Spec: api.PodSpec{
+						RestartPolicy: api.RestartPolicy{
+							Never: &api.RestartPolicyNever{},
+						},
+					},
+					ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{
+						Labels: validSelector,
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
 	}
 	for k, v := range errorCases {
 		errs := ValidateReplicationController(&v)