diff --git a/app/models/ci/build.rb b/app/models/ci/build.rb
index ad0be70c32a4c6d939e7fa1c71992b0ae9c48707..8431c5f228cb1a02d25af9900fd77d6d7667af14 100644
--- a/app/models/ci/build.rb
+++ b/app/models/ci/build.rb
@@ -540,6 +540,8 @@ module Ci
     end
 
     def dependencies
+      return [] if empty_dependencies?
+
       depended_jobs = depends_on_builds
 
       return depended_jobs unless options[:dependencies].present?
@@ -549,6 +551,10 @@ module Ci
       end
     end
 
+    def empty_dependencies?
+      options[:dependencies]&.empty?
+    end
+
     private
 
     def update_artifacts_size
diff --git a/spec/requests/api/runner_spec.rb b/spec/requests/api/runner_spec.rb
index 044b989e5ba31b85b1faf8be4e3e5f2e7d872f6d..1cfac7353d4ed536e6c250a48ac68178982eb3b2 100644
--- a/spec/requests/api/runner_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/api/runner_spec.rb
@@ -461,6 +461,29 @@ describe API::Runner do
             end
           end
 
+          context 'when dependencies is an empty array' do
+            let!(:job) { create(:ci_build_tag, pipeline: pipeline, name: 'spinach', stage: 'test', stage_idx: 0) }
+            let!(:job2) { create(:ci_build_tag, pipeline: pipeline, name: 'rubocop', stage: 'test', stage_idx: 0) }
+            let!(:empty_dependencies_job) do
+              create(:ci_build, pipeline: pipeline, token: 'test-job-token', name: 'empty_dependencies_job',
+                                stage: 'deploy', stage_idx: 1,
+                                options: { dependencies: [] })
+            end
+
+            before do
+              job.success
+              job2.success
+            end
+
+            it 'returns an empty array' do
+              request_job
+
+              expect(response).to have_http_status(201)
+              expect(json_response['id']).to eq(empty_dependencies_job.id)
+              expect(json_response['dependencies'].count).to eq(0)
+            end
+          end
+
           context 'when job has no tags' do
             before { job.update(tags: []) }