diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/Configuration.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/Configuration.java
index b91c9eff2a3..f62a715a102 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/Configuration.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/Configuration.java
@@ -1810,7 +1810,7 @@ public class Configuration implements Iterable<Map.Entry<String,String>>,
       TimeUnit defaultUnit, TimeUnit returnUnit) {
     String vStr = get(name);
     if (null == vStr) {
-      return defaultValue;
+      return returnUnit.convert(defaultValue, defaultUnit);
     } else {
       return getTimeDurationHelper(name, vStr, defaultUnit, returnUnit);
     }
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/TestConfiguration.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/TestConfiguration.java
index a8bca131d4b..0703fe729e8 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/TestConfiguration.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/TestConfiguration.java
@@ -1402,6 +1402,10 @@ public class TestConfiguration {
   @Test
   public void testTimeDuration() {
     Configuration conf = new Configuration(false);
+
+    assertEquals(7000L,
+        conf.getTimeDuration("test.time.a", 7L, SECONDS, MILLISECONDS));
+
     conf.setTimeDuration("test.time.a", 7L, SECONDS);
     assertEquals("7s", conf.get("test.time.a"));
     assertEquals(0L, conf.getTimeDuration("test.time.a", 30, MINUTES));