diff --git a/check_api/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/VisitorState.java b/check_api/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/VisitorState.java
index 1cfa680abee..075215aae4c 100644
--- a/check_api/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/VisitorState.java
+++ b/check_api/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/VisitorState.java
@@ -264,6 +264,9 @@ public ErrorProneOptions errorProneOptions() {
   }
 
   public void reportMatch(Description description) {
+    if (description == null || description == Description.NO_MATCH) {
+      return;
+    }
     // TODO(cushon): creating Descriptions with the default severity and updating them here isn't
     // ideal (we could forget to do the update), so consider removing severity from Description.
     // Instead, there could be another method on the listener that took a description and a
diff --git a/check_api/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/scanner/Scanner.java b/check_api/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/scanner/Scanner.java
index 2592ec11f5b..a553f0c1640 100644
--- a/check_api/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/scanner/Scanner.java
+++ b/check_api/src/main/java/com/google/errorprone/scanner/Scanner.java
@@ -121,9 +121,6 @@ protected Set<? extends Name> getCustomSuppressionAnnotations(VisitorState state
   }
 
   protected void reportMatch(Description description, VisitorState state) {
-    if (description == null || description == Description.NO_MATCH) {
-      return;
-    }
     state.reportMatch(description);
   }
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/bugpatterns/time/StronglyTypeTimeTest.java b/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/bugpatterns/time/StronglyTypeTimeTest.java
index 28deab5c5e5..1102aa642d2 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/bugpatterns/time/StronglyTypeTimeTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/com/google/errorprone/bugpatterns/time/StronglyTypeTimeTest.java
@@ -245,6 +245,19 @@ public void fieldNotPrivate_noMatch() {
         .doTest();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void unusedField_noMatch() {
+    compilationHelper
+        .addSourceLines(
+            "Test.java",
+            "import java.io.Serializable;",
+            "class Test implements Serializable {",
+            "  private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;",
+            "}")
+        .expectNoDiagnostics()
+        .doTest();
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void whenJodaAndJavaInstantUsed_fullyQualifiesName() {
     refactoringHelper