diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index 5ad027d18be..e63c664b0ce 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v7.0.0-alpha2...master[Check the HEAD d
 - Fix index names for indexing not always guaranteed to be lower case. {pull}16081[16081]
 - Add `ssl.ca_sha256` option to the supported TLS option, this allow to check that a specific certificate is used as part of the verified chain. {issue}15717[15717]
 - Fix loading processors from annotation hints. {pull}16348[16348]
+- Fix k8s pods labels broken schema. {pull}16480[16480]
 - Upgrade go-ucfg to latest v0.8.3. {pull}16450{16450}
 
 *Auditbeat*
diff --git a/libbeat/common/kubernetes/metadata/pod.go b/libbeat/common/kubernetes/metadata/pod.go
index b42fa005cc0..7385d2abdf5 100644
--- a/libbeat/common/kubernetes/metadata/pod.go
+++ b/libbeat/common/kubernetes/metadata/pod.go
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ func (p *pod) Generate(obj kubernetes.Resource, opts ...FieldOptions) common.Map
 	}
 
 	out := p.resource.Generate("pod", obj, opts...)
+	// TODO: remove this call when moving to 8.0
+	out = p.exportPodLabels(out)
 
 	if p.node != nil {
 		meta := p.node.GenerateFromName(po.Spec.NodeName)
@@ -89,3 +91,14 @@ func (p *pod) GenerateFromName(name string, opts ...FieldOptions) common.MapStr
 
 	return nil
 }
+
+func (p *pod) exportPodLabels(in common.MapStr) common.MapStr {
+	labels, err := in.GetValue("pod.labels")
+	if err != nil {
+		return in
+	}
+	in.Put("labels", labels)
+	in.Delete("pod.labels")
+
+	return in
+}
diff --git a/libbeat/common/kubernetes/metadata/pod_test.go b/libbeat/common/kubernetes/metadata/pod_test.go
index 2c42958a759..c3838ad2c32 100644
--- a/libbeat/common/kubernetes/metadata/pod_test.go
+++ b/libbeat/common/kubernetes/metadata/pod_test.go
@@ -67,9 +67,9 @@ func TestPod_Generate(t *testing.T) {
 				"pod": common.MapStr{
 					"name": "obj",
 					"uid":  uid,
-					"labels": common.MapStr{
-						"foo": "bar",
-					},
+				},
+				"labels": common.MapStr{
+					"foo": "bar",
 				},
 				"namespace": "default",
 				"node": common.MapStr{
@@ -110,9 +110,6 @@ func TestPod_Generate(t *testing.T) {
 				"pod": common.MapStr{
 					"name": "obj",
 					"uid":  uid,
-					"labels": common.MapStr{
-						"foo": "bar",
-					},
 				},
 				"namespace": "default",
 				"deployment": common.MapStr{
@@ -121,6 +118,9 @@ func TestPod_Generate(t *testing.T) {
 				"node": common.MapStr{
 					"name": "testnode",
 				},
+				"labels": common.MapStr{
+					"foo": "bar",
+				},
 			},
 		},
 	}
@@ -168,14 +168,14 @@ func TestPod_GenerateFromName(t *testing.T) {
 				"pod": common.MapStr{
 					"name": "obj",
 					"uid":  uid,
-					"labels": common.MapStr{
-						"foo": "bar",
-					},
 				},
 				"namespace": "default",
 				"node": common.MapStr{
 					"name": "testnode",
 				},
+				"labels": common.MapStr{
+					"foo": "bar",
+				},
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -211,9 +211,6 @@ func TestPod_GenerateFromName(t *testing.T) {
 				"pod": common.MapStr{
 					"name": "obj",
 					"uid":  uid,
-					"labels": common.MapStr{
-						"foo": "bar",
-					},
 				},
 				"namespace": "default",
 				"deployment": common.MapStr{
@@ -222,6 +219,9 @@ func TestPod_GenerateFromName(t *testing.T) {
 				"node": common.MapStr{
 					"name": "testnode",
 				},
+				"labels": common.MapStr{
+					"foo": "bar",
+				},
 			},
 		},
 	}
@@ -304,9 +304,6 @@ func TestPod_GenerateWithNodeNamespace(t *testing.T) {
 				"pod": common.MapStr{
 					"name": "obj",
 					"uid":  uid,
-					"labels": common.MapStr{
-						"foo": "bar",
-					},
 				},
 				"namespace":     "default",
 				"namespace_uid": uid,
@@ -320,6 +317,9 @@ func TestPod_GenerateWithNodeNamespace(t *testing.T) {
 						"nodekey": "nodevalue",
 					},
 				},
+				"labels": common.MapStr{
+					"foo": "bar",
+				},
 			},
 		},
 	}
diff --git a/libbeat/processors/add_kubernetes_metadata/indexers_test.go b/libbeat/processors/add_kubernetes_metadata/indexers_test.go
index 0d74cece012..acbe1bf51eb 100644
--- a/libbeat/processors/add_kubernetes_metadata/indexers_test.go
+++ b/libbeat/processors/add_kubernetes_metadata/indexers_test.go
@@ -66,9 +66,9 @@ func TestPodIndexer(t *testing.T) {
 		"pod": common.MapStr{
 			"name": "testpod",
 			"uid":  "005f3b90-4b9d-12f8-acf0-31020a840133",
-			"labels": common.MapStr{
-				"labelkey": "labelvalue",
-			},
+		},
+		"labels": common.MapStr{
+			"labelkey": "labelvalue",
 		},
 		"namespace": "testns",
 		"node": common.MapStr{
@@ -117,14 +117,14 @@ func TestPodUIDIndexer(t *testing.T) {
 		"pod": common.MapStr{
 			"name": "testpod",
 			"uid":  "005f3b90-4b9d-12f8-acf0-31020a840133",
-			"labels": common.MapStr{
-				"labelkey": "labelvalue",
-			},
 		},
 		"namespace": "testns",
 		"node": common.MapStr{
 			"name": "testnode",
 		},
+		"labels": common.MapStr{
+			"labelkey": "labelvalue",
+		},
 	}
 
 	assert.Equal(t, expected.String(), indexers[0].Data.String())
@@ -173,14 +173,14 @@ func TestContainerIndexer(t *testing.T) {
 		"pod": common.MapStr{
 			"name": "testpod",
 			"uid":  "005f3b90-4b9d-12f8-acf0-31020a840133",
-			"labels": common.MapStr{
-				"labelkey": "labelvalue",
-			},
 		},
 		"namespace": "testns",
 		"node": common.MapStr{
 			"name": "testnode",
 		},
+		"labels": common.MapStr{
+			"labelkey": "labelvalue",
+		},
 	}
 	container1 := "docker://abcde"
 	pod.Spec.NodeName = nodeName
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ func TestFilteredGenMeta(t *testing.T) {
 	indexers := podIndexer.GetMetadata(&pod)
 	assert.Equal(t, len(indexers), 1)
 
-	rawLabels, _ := indexers[0].Data.GetValue("pod.labels")
+	rawLabels, _ := indexers[0].Data.GetValue("labels")
 	assert.NotNil(t, rawLabels)
 
 	labelMap, ok := rawLabels.(common.MapStr)
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ func TestFilteredGenMeta(t *testing.T) {
 	indexers = podIndexer.GetMetadata(&pod)
 	assert.Equal(t, len(indexers), 1)
 
-	rawLabels, _ = indexers[0].Data.GetValue("pod.labels")
+	rawLabels, _ = indexers[0].Data.GetValue("labels")
 	assert.NotNil(t, rawLabels)
 
 	labelMap, ok = rawLabels.(common.MapStr)
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ func TestFilteredGenMetaExclusion(t *testing.T) {
 	indexers := podIndexer.GetMetadata(&pod)
 	assert.Equal(t, len(indexers), 1)
 
-	rawLabels, _ := indexers[0].Data.GetValue("pod.labels")
+	rawLabels, _ := indexers[0].Data.GetValue("labels")
 	assert.NotNil(t, rawLabels)
 
 	labelMap, ok := rawLabels.(common.MapStr)
@@ -392,14 +392,14 @@ func TestIpPortIndexer(t *testing.T) {
 		"pod": common.MapStr{
 			"name": "testpod",
 			"uid":  "005f3b90-4b9d-12f8-acf0-31020a840133",
-			"labels": common.MapStr{
-				"labelkey": "labelvalue",
-			},
 		},
 		"namespace": "testns",
 		"node": common.MapStr{
 			"name": "testnode",
 		},
+		"labels": common.MapStr{
+			"labelkey": "labelvalue",
+		},
 	}
 
 	pod.Spec.Containers = []v1.Container{