diff --git a/changelog/@unreleased/pr-1524.yml b/changelog/@unreleased/pr-1524.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d6ba05c3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/@unreleased/pr-1524.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+type: fix
+fix:
+  description: Always set target version for Scala compiler to JVM 8.
+  links:
+  - https://github.com/palantir/gradle-baseline/pull/1524
diff --git a/gradle-baseline-java/src/main/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/plugins/BaselineScalastyle.java b/gradle-baseline-java/src/main/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/plugins/BaselineScalastyle.java
index 44c30880c..c96d7adb3 100644
--- a/gradle-baseline-java/src/main/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/plugins/BaselineScalastyle.java
+++ b/gradle-baseline-java/src/main/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/plugins/BaselineScalastyle.java
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@
 import org.gradle.plugins.ide.idea.model.IdeaModel;
 
 public final class BaselineScalastyle extends AbstractBaselinePlugin {
+    private static final String SCALA_TARGET_VERSION = "jvm-8";
+
     @Override
     public void apply(Project project) {
         this.project = project;
@@ -41,8 +43,7 @@ public void apply(Project project) {
             JavaPluginConvention javaConvention = project.getConvention().getPlugin(JavaPluginConvention.class);
             project.getTasks().withType(ScalaCompile.class).configureEach(scalaCompile -> scalaCompile
                     .getScalaCompileOptions()
-                    .setAdditionalParameters(ImmutableList.of("-target:jvm-"
-                            + javaConvention.getTargetCompatibility().toString())));
+                    .setAdditionalParameters(ImmutableList.of("-target:" + SCALA_TARGET_VERSION)));
             project.getRootProject().getPluginManager().withPlugin("idea", ideaPlugin -> project.getRootProject()
                     .getExtensions()
                     .configure(
@@ -52,8 +53,7 @@ public void apply(Project project) {
                                     javaConvention
                                             .getSourceSets()
                                             .named(SourceSet.MAIN_SOURCE_SET_NAME)
-                                            .get(),
-                                    javaConvention.getTargetCompatibility().toString())));
+                                            .get())));
             project.getPluginManager().apply(ScalaStylePlugin.class);
             TaskCollection<ScalaStyleTask> scalaStyleTasks = project.getTasks().withType(ScalaStyleTask.class);
             scalaStyleTasks.configureEach(scalaStyleTask -> {
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ public void apply(Project project) {
         });
     }
 
-    private void configureIdeaPlugin(IdeaModel ideaModel, SourceSet mainSourceSet, String javaVersion) {
+    private void configureIdeaPlugin(IdeaModel ideaModel, SourceSet mainSourceSet) {
         Convention scalaConvention = (Convention) InvokerHelper.getProperty(mainSourceSet, "convention");
         ScalaSourceSet scalaSourceSet = scalaConvention.getPlugin(ScalaSourceSet.class);
         // If scala source directory doesn't contain java files use "JavaThenScala" compilation mode
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ private void configureIdeaPlugin(IdeaModel ideaModel, SourceSet mainSourceSet, S
                 : "Mixed";
         ideaModel.getProject().getIpr().withXml(xmlProvider -> {
             // configure target jvm mode
-            String targetJvmVersion = "-target:jvm-" + javaVersion;
+            String targetJvmVersion = "-target:" + SCALA_TARGET_VERSION;
             Node rootNode = xmlProvider.asNode();
             Node scalaCompilerConf = (Node) rootNode.getAt(new QName("component")).stream()
                     .filter(o -> ((Node) o).attributes().get("name").equals("ScalaCompilerConfiguration"))
diff --git a/gradle-baseline-java/src/test/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/BaselineScalastyleTest.groovy b/gradle-baseline-java/src/test/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/BaselineScalastyleTest.groovy
index cbf5c5b80..8477babbf 100644
--- a/gradle-baseline-java/src/test/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/BaselineScalastyleTest.groovy
+++ b/gradle-baseline-java/src/test/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/BaselineScalastyleTest.groovy
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import org.github.ngbinh.scalastyle.ScalaStylePlugin
 import org.github.ngbinh.scalastyle.ScalaStyleTask
 import org.gradle.api.Project
 import org.gradle.api.XmlProvider
-import org.gradle.api.plugins.JavaPluginConvention
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.scala.ScalaCompile
 import org.gradle.plugins.ide.idea.model.IdeaModel
 import org.gradle.testfixtures.ProjectBuilder
@@ -71,15 +70,10 @@ final class BaselineScalastyleTest extends Specification {
     }
 
     def configuresTargetJvmVersion() {
-        String targetVersion = project.getConvention()
-                .getPlugin(JavaPluginConvention.class)
-                .getTargetCompatibility()
-                .toString()
-
         expect:
         def tasks = project.tasks.withType(ScalaCompile.class)
         for (ScalaCompile task : tasks) {
-            assert task.getScalaCompileOptions().getAdditionalParameters().contains("-target:jvm-" + targetVersion)
+            assert task.getScalaCompileOptions().getAdditionalParameters().contains("-target:jvm-8")
         }
     }