diff --git a/lib/readers/elasticsearch_date_range/slicer.js b/lib/readers/elasticsearch_date_range/slicer.js
index a96a7ca80c4..f157112468e 100644
--- a/lib/readers/elasticsearch_date_range/slicer.js
+++ b/lib/readers/elasticsearch_date_range/slicer.js
@@ -21,14 +21,6 @@ function newSlicer(context, opConfig, executionContext, retryData, logger, clien
 
     const elasticsearch = require('elasticsearch_api')(client, logger, opConfig);
 
-    function checkElasticsearch(esClient) {
-        if (esClient) {
-            return elasticsearch.version();
-        }
-
-        return Promise.reject('no client is available for slicer');
-    }
-
     function processInterval(str, esDates) {
         if (!moment(new Date(str)).isValid()) {
             // one or more digits, followed by one or more letters, case-insensitive
@@ -115,7 +107,8 @@ function newSlicer(context, opConfig, executionContext, retryData, logger, clien
             .then((results) => {
                 const data = _.get(results, 'hits.hits[0]._source', results[0]);
                 if (data === undefined) {
-                    return moment();
+                    logger.warn(`no data was found using query ${JSON.stringify(query)} for index: ${opConfig.index}`);
+                    return null;
                 }
 
                 if (data[opConfig.date_field_name] === undefined) {
@@ -507,7 +500,7 @@ function newSlicer(context, opConfig, executionContext, retryData, logger, clien
         return Promise.resolve(slicers);
     }
 
-    return checkElasticsearch(client)
+    return elasticsearch.version()
         .then(() => getDates()
             .then((esDates) => {
                 // query with no results
diff --git a/spec/readers/elasticsearch_reader-spec.js b/spec/readers/elasticsearch_reader-spec.js
index 50b227a9e2c..3a9d5bcafbb 100644
--- a/spec/readers/elasticsearch_reader-spec.js
+++ b/spec/readers/elasticsearch_reader-spec.js
@@ -309,13 +309,13 @@ describe('elasticsearch_reader', () => {
                 Promise.resolve(slicer())
                     .then((results) => {
                         expect(results).toEqual(null);
-                        done();
                     })
                     .catch((error) => {
                         fail(error);
-                        done();
                     });
-            });
+            })
+            .catch(fail)
+            .finally(done);
     });
 
     it('slicer can produce date slices', (done) => {