diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterMetricsCollector.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterMetricsCollector.scala
index 7edd0974c0..eb01e76e73 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterMetricsCollector.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterMetricsCollector.scala
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ private[cluster] class MetricsCollector private (private val sigar: Option[AnyRe
 
   /**
    * (SIGAR / JMX) Returns the OS-specific average system load on the CPUs in the system, for the past 1 minute.
-   * On some systems the JMX OS system load average may not be available, in which case a -1 is returned.
+   * On some systems the JMX OS system load average may not be available, in which case a negative value is returned.
    * Hyperic SIGAR provides more precise values, thus, if the library is on the classpath, it is the default.
    */
   def systemLoadAverage: Metric = Metric("system-load-average", Some(BigDecimal(Try(
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/MetricsCollectorSpec.scala b/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/MetricsCollectorSpec.scala
index f00869d92f..e1044000e8 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/MetricsCollectorSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/MetricsCollectorSpec.scala
@@ -78,11 +78,12 @@ class MetricsCollectorSpec extends AkkaSpec(MetricsEnabledSpec.config) with Impl
       val metrics = sample.metrics.collect { case m if m.isDefined ⇒ (m.name, m.value.get) }
       val used = metrics collectFirst { case ("heap-memory-used", b) ⇒ b }
       val committed = metrics collectFirst { case ("heap-memory-committed", b) ⇒ b }
+
       metrics foreach {
         case ("total-cores", b)           ⇒ b.intValue must be > (0)
         case ("network-max-rx", b)        ⇒ b.longValue must be > (0L)
         case ("network-max-tx", b)        ⇒ b.longValue must be > (0L)
-        case ("system-load-average", b)   ⇒ b.doubleValue must be >= (0.0)
+        case ("system-load-average", b)   ⇒ // not possible to assert b, allowed to be negative or positive
         case ("processors", b)            ⇒ b.intValue must be >= (0)
         case ("heap-memory-used", b)      ⇒ b.longValue must be >= (0L)
         case ("heap-memory-committed", b) ⇒ b.longValue must be > (0L)