diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Sync.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Sync.java
index 8fd8d393c..8da177010 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Sync.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Sync.java
@@ -135,6 +135,11 @@ public class Sync extends Task {
 
             int removedDirCount = 0;
             if (!myCopy.getIncludeEmptyDirs()) {
+                if (syncTarget != null
+                    && syncTarget.getPreserveEmptyDirs() != Boolean.TRUE) {
+                    preservedDirectories.clear();
+                }
+
                 removedDirCount =
                     removeEmptyDirectories(toDir, false, preservedDirectories);
             } else { // must be syncTarget.preserveEmptydirs == FALSE
diff --git a/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/sync-test.xml b/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/sync-test.xml
index 1eab7a409..4a708ba0d 100644
--- a/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/sync-test.xml
+++ b/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/sync-test.xml
@@ -87,4 +87,34 @@
     <au:assertFileDoesntExist file="${output}/b/c"/>
   </target>
 
+  <target name="testPreserveEmptyAndIncludeEmptyFalse" depends="setUp">
+
+    <sync todir="${output}" includeEmptyDirs="false">
+      <fileset dir="${input}"/>
+      <preserveintarget preserveEmptyDirs="false">
+        <include name="**/b/**"/>
+      </preserveintarget>
+    </sync>
+
+    <au:assertFileDoesntExist file="${output}/a/bar.txt"/>
+    <au:assertFileExists file="${output}/a/foo.txt"/>
+    <au:assertFileExists file="${output}/b/baz.txt"/>
+    <au:assertFileDoesntExist file="${output}/b/c"/>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="testPreserveEmptyAndIncludeEmptyTrue" depends="setUp">
+
+    <sync todir="${output}" includeEmptyDirs="true">
+      <fileset dir="${input}"/>
+      <preserveintarget preserveEmptyDirs="true">
+        <include name="**/b/**"/>
+      </preserveintarget>
+    </sync>
+
+    <au:assertFileDoesntExist file="${output}/a/bar.txt"/>
+    <au:assertFileExists file="${output}/a/foo.txt"/>
+    <au:assertFileExists file="${output}/b/baz.txt"/>
+    <au:assertFileExists file="${output}/b/c"/>
+  </target>
+
 </project>