diff --git a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/AbstractHttp2Headers.java b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/AbstractHttp2Headers.java
index 7e3c7144952..00395acda53 100644
--- a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/AbstractHttp2Headers.java
+++ b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/AbstractHttp2Headers.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public int size() {
 
   @Override
   public boolean isEmpty() {
-    throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
+    return size() == 0;
   }
 
   @Override