diff --git a/pkg/controller/volume/persistentvolume/pv_controller.go b/pkg/controller/volume/persistentvolume/pv_controller.go
index 0e747afc5da..c3514af2de7 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/volume/persistentvolume/pv_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/volume/persistentvolume/pv_controller.go
@@ -937,7 +937,7 @@ func (ctrl *PersistentVolumeController) updateVolumePhaseWithEvent(volume *v1.Pe
 // Ignores claims that already have a storage class.
 // TODO: if resync is ever changed to a larger period, we might need to change how we set the default class on existing unbound claims
 func (ctrl *PersistentVolumeController) assignDefaultStorageClass(claim *v1.PersistentVolumeClaim) (bool, error) {
-	if claim.Spec.StorageClassName != nil {
+	if storagehelpers.GetPersistentVolumeClaimClass(claim) != "" {
 		return false, nil
 	}