diff --git a/include/proto/queue.h b/include/proto/queue.h
index be78b53561..77964feb37 100644
--- a/include/proto/queue.h
+++ b/include/proto/queue.h
@@ -64,11 +64,11 @@ static inline struct pendconn *pendconn_from_px(const struct proxy *px) {
 }
 
 /* returns 0 if nothing has to be done for server <s> regarding queued connections,
- * and non-zero otherwise. If the server is down, we always return zero. Suited for
- * and if/else usage.
+ * and non-zero otherwise. If the server is down, we only check its own queue. Suited
+ * for and if/else usage.
  */
 static inline int may_dequeue_tasks(const struct server *s, const struct proxy *p) {
-	return (s && (s->state & SRV_RUNNING) && (s->nbpend || p->nbpend) &&
+	return (s && (s->nbpend || (p->nbpend && (s->state & SRV_RUNNING))) &&
 		(!s->maxconn || s->cur_sess < srv_dynamic_maxconn(s)));
 }
 
diff --git a/src/queue.c b/src/queue.c
index 905994abba..c5ea0bb21a 100644
--- a/src/queue.c
+++ b/src/queue.c
@@ -89,6 +89,10 @@ void process_srv_queue(struct server *s)
  * returned. Note that neither <srv> nor <px> may be NULL.
  * Priority is given to the oldest request in the queue if both <srv> and <px>
  * have pending requests. This ensures that no request will be left unserved.
+ * The <px> queue is not considered if the server is not RUNNING. The <srv>
+ * queue is still considered in this case, because if some connections remain
+ * there, it means that some requests have been forced there after it was seen
+ * down (eg: due to option persist).
  * The session is immediately marked as "assigned", and both its <srv> and
  * <srv_conn> are set to <srv>,
  */
@@ -100,7 +104,7 @@ struct session *pendconn_get_next_sess(struct server *srv, struct proxy *px)
 	ps = pendconn_from_srv(srv);
 	pp = pendconn_from_px(px);
 	/* we want to get the definitive pendconn in <ps> */
-	if (!pp) {
+	if (!pp || !(srv->state & SRV_RUNNING)) {
 		if (!ps)
 			return NULL;
 	} else {
diff --git a/src/session.c b/src/session.c
index e3a736d2bc..0d6ad8db7f 100644
--- a/src/session.c
+++ b/src/session.c
@@ -41,8 +41,9 @@ void session_free(struct session *s)
 
 	if (s->pend_pos)
 		pendconn_free(s->pend_pos);
-	if (s->srv)  /* there may be requests left pending in queue */
+	if (s->srv && may_dequeue_tasks(s->srv, s->be))  /* there may be requests left pending in queue */
 		process_srv_queue(s->srv);
+
 	if (unlikely(s->srv_conn)) {
 		/* the session still has a reserved slot on a server, but
 		 * it should normally be only the same as the one above,