diff --git a/pkg/controllers/termination/terminate.go b/pkg/controllers/termination/terminate.go
index 43ec6bcb9ac0..8a7110579f1a 100644
--- a/pkg/controllers/termination/terminate.go
+++ b/pkg/controllers/termination/terminate.go
@@ -61,6 +61,14 @@ func (t *Terminator) cordon(ctx context.Context, node *v1.Node) error {
 	// 2. Cordon node
 	persisted := node.DeepCopy()
 	node.Spec.Unschedulable = true
+	// Handle nil map
+	if node.Labels == nil {
+		node.Labels = map[string]string{
+			"node.kubernetes.io/exclude-from-external-load-balancers": "karpenter",
+		}
+	} else {
+		node.Labels["node.kubernetes.io/exclude-from-external-load-balancers"] = "karpenter"
+	}
 	if err := t.KubeClient.Patch(ctx, node, client.MergeFrom(persisted)); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("patching node %s, %w", node.Name, err)
 	}