diff --git a/lib/App/Netdisco/Configuration.pm b/lib/App/Netdisco/Configuration.pm
index 792ae39e..90cdc5ac 100644
--- a/lib/App/Netdisco/Configuration.pm
+++ b/lib/App/Netdisco/Configuration.pm
@@ -181,6 +181,11 @@ setting('workers')->{'timeout'} = setting('timeout')
   if defined setting('timeout')
      and !defined setting('workers')->{'timeout'};
 
+# 0 for workers max_deferrals and retry_after is like disabling
+# but we need to fake it with special values
+setting('workers')->{'max_deferrals'} ||= (2**30);
+setting('workers')->{'retry_after'}   ||= '100 years';
+
 # schedule expire used to be called expiry
 setting('schedule')->{expire} ||= setting('schedule')->{expiry}
   if setting('schedule') and exists setting('schedule')->{expiry};
diff --git a/lib/App/Netdisco/DB/ResultSet/Admin.pm b/lib/App/Netdisco/DB/ResultSet/Admin.pm
index 31b2cc71..c1323cdc 100644
--- a/lib/App/Netdisco/DB/ResultSet/Admin.pm
+++ b/lib/App/Netdisco/DB/ResultSet/Admin.pm
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ C<retry_after> when devices will be retried once (disabled if 0/undef passed).
 sub skipped {
   my ($rs, $backend, $max_deferrals, $retry) = @_;
   $backend ||= 'fqdn-undefined';
-  $max_deferrals ||= 10_000_000; # not really 'disabled'
+  $max_deferrals ||= (2**30); # not really 'disabled'
   $retry ||= '100 years'; # not really 'disabled'
 
   return $rs->correlate('device_skips')->search(undef,{