diff --git a/lib/workers/occurrences_worker.rb b/lib/workers/occurrences_worker.rb
index 3ed304b0..d63fa28e 100644
--- a/lib/workers/occurrences_worker.rb
+++ b/lib/workers/occurrences_worker.rb
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ def filter_pii_param(param)
       when Hash
         param.each do |representation, value|
           next if %w(language class_name).include?(representation)
-          param[representation] = filter_pii_string(value)
+          param[representation] = filter_pii_param(value)
         end
     end
   end
diff --git a/spec/lib/workers/occurrences_worker_spec.rb b/spec/lib/workers/occurrences_worker_spec.rb
index a49b8b2d..d7567b60 100644
--- a/spec/lib/workers/occurrences_worker_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/workers/occurrences_worker_spec.rb
@@ -298,6 +298,14 @@
           occ              = OccurrencesWorker.new(@params).perform
           expect(occ.ivars['email']).to eql('[EMAIL?]')
         end
+
+        it "should handle nils gracefully" do
+          @params['ivars'] = {"foo" => { "email" => nil },
+                              "other" => "something"}
+          expect {
+            occ            = OccurrencesWorker.new(@params).perform
+          }.not_to raise_error
+        end
       end
 
       it "should stick any attributes it doesn't recognize into the metadata attribute" do