diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVFormat.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVFormat.java
index c3eb90cb..270c6518 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVFormat.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVFormat.java
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ public final class CSVFormat implements Serializable {
     private final Character commentStart; // null if commenting is disabled
     private final Character escape; // null if escaping is disabled
     private final boolean ignoreSurroundingSpaces; // Should leading/trailing spaces be ignored around values?
-    private boolean ignoreEmptyHeaders;
+    private final boolean ignoreEmptyHeaders;
     private final boolean ignoreEmptyLines;
     private final String recordSeparator; // for outputs
     private final String nullString; // the string to be used for null values