diff --git a/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/hdfs/parquet/ParquetRecordWriterProvider.java b/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/hdfs/parquet/ParquetRecordWriterProvider.java
index 23d2a6a12..f45c7bf60 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/hdfs/parquet/ParquetRecordWriterProvider.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/hdfs/parquet/ParquetRecordWriterProvider.java
@@ -56,6 +56,9 @@ public RecordWriter getRecordWriter(HdfsSinkConnectorConfig conf, String filenam
     return new SizeAwareRecordWriter() {
       @Override
       public long getDataSize() {
+        if (writer == null) {
+          return 0;
+        }
         return writer.getDataSize();
       }