diff --git a/src/commands.rs b/src/commands.rs
index 1a3a0c7d1..9a67fe2c9 100644
--- a/src/commands.rs
+++ b/src/commands.rs
@@ -593,6 +593,7 @@ impl WorkspaceCommandHelper {
         // divergence.
         let checkout_commit = repo.store().get_commit(&checkout_id)?;
         let wc_tree_id = locked_wc.old_tree_id().clone();
+        let mut wc_was_stale = false;
         if *checkout_commit.tree_id() != wc_tree_id {
             let wc_operation_data = self
                 .repo
@@ -636,6 +637,7 @@ impl WorkspaceCommandHelper {
                                 err
                             ))
                         })?;
+                    wc_was_stale = true;
                 } else {
                     return Err(CommandError::InternalError(format!(
                         "The repo was loaded at operation {}, which seems to be a sibling of the \
@@ -674,6 +676,8 @@ impl WorkspaceCommandHelper {
 
             self.repo = tx.commit();
             locked_wc.finish(self.repo.op_id().clone());
+        } else if wc_was_stale {
+            locked_wc.finish(self.repo.op_id().clone());
         } else {
             locked_wc.discard();
         }
diff --git a/tests/test_workspaces.rs b/tests/test_workspaces.rs
index cecf6d407..411f96f7c 100644
--- a/tests/test_workspaces.rs
+++ b/tests/test_workspaces.rs
@@ -124,6 +124,17 @@ fn test_workspaces_conflicting_edits() {
     o 52601f748bf6cb00ad5389922f530f20a7ecffaa 
     o 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 
     "###);
+
+    // The stale working copy should have been resolved by the previous command
+    let stdout = get_log_output(&test_env, &secondary_path);
+    assert!(!stdout.starts_with("The working copy is stale"));
+    insta::assert_snapshot!(stdout, @r###"
+    @ 8d8269a323a01a287236c4fd5f64dc9737febb5b secondary@
+    | o 6d004761e81306cf8b2168a18868fbc84f182556 default@
+    |/  
+    o 52601f748bf6cb00ad5389922f530f20a7ecffaa 
+    o 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 
+    "###);
 }
 
 /// Test forgetting workspaces