diff --git a/nomad/fsm.go b/nomad/fsm.go
index 28f12da5f..ca043d4e8 100644
--- a/nomad/fsm.go
+++ b/nomad/fsm.go
@@ -686,10 +686,7 @@ func (n *nomadFSM) applyUpdateEval(buf []byte, index uint64) interface{} {
 }
 
 func (n *nomadFSM) upsertEvals(index uint64, evals []*structs.Evaluation) error {
-	if err := n.state.UpsertEvals(index, evals); len(evals) == 1 && err == state.ErrDuplicateEval {
-		// the request is a duplicate, ignore processing it
-		return nil
-	} else if err != nil {
+	if err := n.state.UpsertEvals(index, evals); err != nil {
 		n.logger.Error("UpsertEvals failed", "error", err)
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/nomad/state/state_store.go b/nomad/state/state_store.go
index 058237367..eb57f3814 100644
--- a/nomad/state/state_store.go
+++ b/nomad/state/state_store.go
@@ -2540,19 +2540,6 @@ func (s *StateStore) UpsertEvalsTxn(index uint64, evals []*structs.Evaluation, t
 	return nil
 }
 
-// ErrDuplicateEval indicates that the eval is already present in state and ought not
-// to be reprocessed again.
-//
-// Such duplication might occur in the background compatibility path in job registration
-// or deregistration
-var ErrDuplicateEval = fmt.Errorf("eval already exists")
-
-func isPotentialDuplicateEval(eval *structs.Evaluation) bool {
-	return eval.Status == structs.EvalStatusPending &&
-		(eval.TriggeredBy == structs.EvalTriggerJobRegister ||
-			eval.TriggeredBy == structs.EvalTriggerPeriodicJob)
-}
-
 // nestedUpsertEvaluation is used to nest an evaluation upsert within a transaction
 func (s *StateStore) nestedUpsertEval(txn *memdb.Txn, index uint64, eval *structs.Evaluation) error {
 	// Lookup the evaluation
@@ -2561,10 +2548,6 @@ func (s *StateStore) nestedUpsertEval(txn *memdb.Txn, index uint64, eval *struct
 		return fmt.Errorf("eval lookup failed: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	if existing != nil && isPotentialDuplicateEval(eval) {
-		return ErrDuplicateEval
-	}
-
 	// Update the indexes
 	if existing != nil {
 		eval.CreateIndex = existing.(*structs.Evaluation).CreateIndex