diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/emac/mal.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/emac/mal.c
index 83dd7f99d8d5..74526002d52b 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/emac/mal.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/emac/mal.c
@@ -712,13 +712,13 @@ static void mal_remove(struct platform_device *ofdev)
 	MAL_DBG(mal, "remove" NL);
 
 	/* Synchronize with scheduled polling */
-	napi_disable(&mal->napi);
-
-	if (!list_empty(&mal->list))
+	if (!list_empty(&mal->list)) {
+		napi_disable(&mal->napi);
 		/* This is *very* bad */
 		WARN(1, KERN_EMERG
 		       "mal%d: commac list is not empty on remove!\n",
 		       mal->index);
+	}
 
 	mal_reset(mal);