diff --git a/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-jsonschema2pojo/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/jsonschema2pojo/Fabric8DefaultRule.java b/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-jsonschema2pojo/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/jsonschema2pojo/Fabric8DefaultRule.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b4137e804af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-jsonschema2pojo/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/jsonschema2pojo/Fabric8DefaultRule.java
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2015 Red Hat, Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.fabric8.kubernetes.jsonschema2pojo;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
+import com.sun.codemodel.JClass;
+import com.sun.codemodel.JExpr;
+import com.sun.codemodel.JFieldVar;
+import com.sun.codemodel.JType;
+import org.jsonschema2pojo.Schema;
+import org.jsonschema2pojo.rules.DefaultRule;
+import org.jsonschema2pojo.rules.RuleFactory;
+
+import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+/**
+ * Adds default map handling
+ */
+public class Fabric8DefaultRule extends DefaultRule {
+
+  private final RuleFactory ruleFactory;
+
+  public Fabric8DefaultRule(RuleFactory ruleFactory) {
+    super(ruleFactory);
+    this.ruleFactory = ruleFactory;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public JFieldVar apply(String nodeName, JsonNode node, JsonNode parent, JFieldVar field, Schema currentSchema) {
+
+    if (ruleFactory.getGenerationConfig().isInitializeCollections()) {
+      JType fieldType = field.type();
+      String fieldTypeName = fieldType.fullName();
+
+      // check for a map with no defaults
+      if (fieldTypeName.startsWith(Map.class.getName()) && (node == null || node.asText() == null || node.asText().isEmpty())) {
+        JClass keyGenericType = ((JClass) fieldType).getTypeParameters().get(0);
+        JClass valueGenericType = ((JClass) fieldType).getTypeParameters().get(1);
+
+        JClass mapImplClass = fieldType.owner().ref(LinkedHashMap.class);
+        mapImplClass = mapImplClass.narrow(keyGenericType, valueGenericType);
+
+        field.init(JExpr._new(mapImplClass));
+      }
+
+    }
+    return super.apply(nodeName, node, parent, field, currentSchema);
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-jsonschema2pojo/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/jsonschema2pojo/Fabric8RuleFactory.java b/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-jsonschema2pojo/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/jsonschema2pojo/Fabric8RuleFactory.java
index 7daf1a8f499..dbd01248619 100644
--- a/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-jsonschema2pojo/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/jsonschema2pojo/Fabric8RuleFactory.java
+++ b/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-jsonschema2pojo/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/jsonschema2pojo/Fabric8RuleFactory.java
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@
  */
 package io.fabric8.kubernetes.jsonschema2pojo;
 
+import com.sun.codemodel.JFieldVar;
+import com.sun.codemodel.JPackage;
+import com.sun.codemodel.JType;
 import org.jsonschema2pojo.DefaultGenerationConfig;
 import org.jsonschema2pojo.Jackson2Annotator;
 import org.jsonschema2pojo.SchemaStore;
@@ -23,9 +26,6 @@
 import org.jsonschema2pojo.util.NameHelper;
 import org.jsonschema2pojo.util.ParcelableHelper;
 
-import com.sun.codemodel.JPackage;
-import com.sun.codemodel.JType;
-
 public class Fabric8RuleFactory extends RuleFactory {
 
   private final Fabric8NameHelper nameHelper;
@@ -44,4 +44,9 @@ public NameHelper getNameHelper() {
   public Rule<JPackage, JType> getObjectRule() {
     return new Fabric8ObjectRule(this, new ParcelableHelper(), getReflectionHelper());
   }
+  
+  @Override
+  public Rule<JFieldVar, JFieldVar> getDefaultRule() {
+    return new Fabric8DefaultRule(this);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/kubernetes-model-generator/pkg/schemagen/generate.go b/kubernetes-model-generator/pkg/schemagen/generate.go
index 713d761ae24..b8b6e8c6285 100644
--- a/kubernetes-model-generator/pkg/schemagen/generate.go
+++ b/kubernetes-model-generator/pkg/schemagen/generate.go
@@ -418,6 +418,7 @@ func (g *schemaGenerator) getPropertyDescriptor(t reflect.Type, desc string, omi
 			JSONDescriptor: &JSONDescriptor{
 				Type:        "object",
 				Description: desc,
+				JavaOmitEmpty: omitEmpty,
 			},
 			JSONMapDescriptor: &JSONMapDescriptor{
 				MapValueType: g.getPropertyDescriptor(t.Elem(), desc, false),