diff --git a/pkg/controllers/cronfederatedhpa/cronfederatedhpa_job.go b/pkg/controllers/cronfederatedhpa/cronfederatedhpa_job.go
index 9eafed378f2d..0d1aafbc8381 100755
--- a/pkg/controllers/cronfederatedhpa/cronfederatedhpa_job.go
+++ b/pkg/controllers/cronfederatedhpa/cronfederatedhpa_job.go
@@ -168,6 +168,10 @@ func (c *ScalingJob) ScaleFHPA(cronFHPA *autoscalingv1alpha1.CronFederatedHPA) e
 func (c *ScalingJob) ScaleWorkloads(cronFHPA *autoscalingv1alpha1.CronFederatedHPA) error {
 	ctx := context.Background()
 
+	if c.rule.TargetReplicas == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("targetReplicas cannot be nil if you want to scale %s", cronFHPA.Spec.ScaleTargetRef.Kind)
+	}
+
 	scaleClient := c.client.SubResource("scale")
 
 	targetGV, err := schema.ParseGroupVersion(cronFHPA.Spec.ScaleTargetRef.APIVersion)
diff --git a/pkg/controllers/cronfederatedhpa/cronfederatedhpa_job_test.go b/pkg/controllers/cronfederatedhpa/cronfederatedhpa_job_test.go
index 49cb6ed89dce..c00c6869c908 100644
--- a/pkg/controllers/cronfederatedhpa/cronfederatedhpa_job_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controllers/cronfederatedhpa/cronfederatedhpa_job_test.go
@@ -189,6 +189,27 @@ func TestScaleFHPA(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestScaleWorkloadsNilTargetReplicas(t *testing.T) {
+	job := &ScalingJob{
+		client: fake.NewClientBuilder().Build(),
+		rule: autoscalingv1alpha1.CronFederatedHPARule{
+			Name: "missing-target-replicas",
+		},
+	}
+
+	cronFHPA := &autoscalingv1alpha1.CronFederatedHPA{
+		Spec: autoscalingv1alpha1.CronFederatedHPASpec{
+			ScaleTargetRef: autoscalingv2.CrossVersionObjectReference{
+				Kind: "Deployment",
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	err := job.ScaleWorkloads(cronFHPA)
+
+	assert.EqualError(t, err, "targetReplicas cannot be nil if you want to scale Deployment")
+}
+
 func TestFindExecutionHistory(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		name          string