diff --git a/src/frontend/org/voltdb/client/AuthenticatedConnectionCache.java b/src/frontend/org/voltdb/client/AuthenticatedConnectionCache.java
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/src/frontend/org/voltdb/client/AuthenticatedConnectionCache.java
+++ b/src/frontend/org/voltdb/client/AuthenticatedConnectionCache.java
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ public class AuthenticatedConnectionCache {
             try
             {
                 adminClient = (ClientImpl) ClientFactory.createClient();
-                if ((userName == null) || (userName == "")) {
+                if ((userName == null) || (userName.equals(""))) {
                     if ((hashedPassword != null) && (hashedPassword.length > 0)) {
                         throw new IOException("Username was null but password was not.");
                     }
Findbugs: invalid use of reference equality.