diff --git a/distributed/worker.py b/distributed/worker.py
index 18c9d53f00f..45bc57bbfb2 100644
--- a/distributed/worker.py
+++ b/distributed/worker.py
@@ -4200,6 +4200,8 @@ async def _get_data():
             else:
                 if status == "OK":
                     await comm.write("OK")
+                elif status == "busy":
+                    raise ValueError("Retry in a little while", response)
             return response
         finally:
             rpc.reuse(worker, comm)