diff --git a/src/core/cgroup.c b/src/core/cgroup.c
index 839b1676c8..34643b242c 100644
--- a/src/core/cgroup.c
+++ b/src/core/cgroup.c
@@ -3319,6 +3319,8 @@ static int on_cgroup_oom_event(sd_event_source *s, void *userdata) {
         }
 
         (void) unit_check_oom(u);
+        unit_add_to_gc_queue(u);
+
         return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/core/unit.c b/src/core/unit.c
index 7b6d50e0ea..80f398c309 100644
--- a/src/core/unit.c
+++ b/src/core/unit.c
@@ -441,7 +441,10 @@ bool unit_may_gc(Unit *u) {
         if (u->perpetual)
                 return false;
 
-        if (u->in_cgroup_empty_queue)
+        /* if we saw a cgroup empty event for this unit, stay around until we processed it so that we remove
+         * the empty cgroup if possible. Similar, process any pending OOM events if they are already queued
+         * before we release the unit. */
+        if (u->in_cgroup_empty_queue || u->in_cgroup_oom_queue)
                 return false;
 
         if (sd_bus_track_count(u->bus_track) > 0)