diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index b6ccc83f7f..f00db099f2 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -189,8 +189,9 @@ jobs:
         name: Run REST tests
         command: |
           mkdir -p rest-test-results;
-          ssh lightsail 'cd tator && for i in $(seq 1 3); do make rq-empty && make test && s=0 && break || s=$? && sleep 10; done; (exit $s)'
+          final_exit_code=`ssh lightsail 'cd tator && for i in $(seq 1 3); do make rq-empty && make test && s=0 && break || s=$? && sleep 10; done; (exit $s)'`;
           ssh lightsail 'test -e tator/rest-junit.xml' && scp lightsail:tator/rest-junit.xml rest-test-results/ || exit 0;
+          exit $final_exit_code;
     - store_test_results:
         path: rest-test-results
   front-end-tests: