diff --git a/internal/controllers/machine/machine_controller.go b/internal/controllers/machine/machine_controller.go
index 80792b534d1e..f8d5cea4830d 100644
--- a/internal/controllers/machine/machine_controller.go
+++ b/internal/controllers/machine/machine_controller.go
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ import (
 	apierrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
-	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
 	kerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait"
@@ -652,7 +651,7 @@ func SkipFuncGenerator(labelSelector *metav1.LabelSelector) func(pod corev1.Pod)
 		if pod.Labels == nil {
 			return kubedrain.MakePodDeleteStatusOkay()
 		}
-		if labels.Equals(labelSelector.MatchLabels, pod.ObjectMeta.Labels) {
+		if HasMatchingLabels(*labelSelector, pod.ObjectMeta.Labels) {
 			return kubedrain.MakePodDeleteStatusSkip()
 		}
 		return kubedrain.MakePodDeleteStatusOkay()