diff --git a/packages/backend-core/src/db/lucene.ts b/packages/backend-core/src/db/lucene.ts
index d9dddd0097..37768e934e 100644
--- a/packages/backend-core/src/db/lucene.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-core/src/db/lucene.ts
@@ -431,10 +431,28 @@ export class QueryBuilder<T> {
       })
     }
     if (this.#query.empty) {
-      build(this.#query.empty, (key: string) => `(*:* -${key}:["" TO *])`)
+      build(this.#query.empty, (key: string) => {
+        // Because the structure of an empty filter looks like this:
+        //   { empty: { someKey: null } }
+        //
+        // The check inside of `build` does not set `allFiltersEmpty`, which results
+        // in weird behaviour when the empty filter is the only filter. We get around
+        // this by setting `allFiltersEmpty` to false here.
+        allFiltersEmpty = false
+        return `(*:* -${key}:["" TO *])`
+      })
     }
     if (this.#query.notEmpty) {
-      build(this.#query.notEmpty, (key: string) => `${key}:["" TO *]`)
+      build(this.#query.notEmpty, (key: string) => {
+        // Because the structure of a notEmpty filter looks like this:
+        //   { notEmpty: { someKey: null } }
+        //
+        // The check inside of `build` does not set `allFiltersEmpty`, which results
+        // in weird behaviour when the empty filter is the only filter. We get around
+        // this by setting `allFiltersEmpty` to false here.
+        allFiltersEmpty = false
+        return `${key}:["" TO *]`
+      })
     }
     if (this.#query.oneOf) {
       build(this.#query.oneOf, oneOf)
diff --git a/packages/server/src/api/routes/tests/search.spec.ts b/packages/server/src/api/routes/tests/search.spec.ts
index 27c07d85be..1c098ebfa0 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/api/routes/tests/search.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/api/routes/tests/search.spec.ts
@@ -498,6 +498,31 @@ describe.each([
         }).toFindNothing())
     })
 
+    describe("empty", () => {
+      it("finds no empty rows", () =>
+        expectQuery({ empty: { name: null } }).toFindNothing())
+
+      it("should not be affected by when filter empty behaviour", () =>
+        expectQuery({
+          empty: { name: null },
+          onEmptyFilter: EmptyFilterOption.RETURN_ALL,
+        }).toFindNothing())
+    })
+
+    describe("notEmpty", () => {
+      it("finds all non-empty rows", () =>
+        expectQuery({ notEmpty: { name: null } }).toContainExactly([
+          { name: "foo" },
+          { name: "bar" },
+        ]))
+
+      it("should not be affected by when filter empty behaviour", () =>
+        expectQuery({
+          notEmpty: { name: null },
+          onEmptyFilter: EmptyFilterOption.RETURN_NONE,
+        }).toContainExactly([{ name: "foo" }, { name: "bar" }]))
+    })
+
     describe("sort", () => {
       it("sorts ascending", () =>
         expectSearch({