diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/poi/ss/util/DateFormatConverter.java b/src/java/org/apache/poi/ss/util/DateFormatConverter.java
index 316d1ed7b6..bca998e806 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/poi/ss/util/DateFormatConverter.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/poi/ss/util/DateFormatConverter.java
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ public class DateFormatConverter  {
 			return result.toArray(new String[0]);
 		}
 		
+		@Override
 		public String toString() {
 			StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
 			
@@ -323,6 +324,9 @@ public class DateFormatConverter  {
 		result.put( "in", "[$-0421]" );
 		result.put( "iw", "[$-40D]" );
 		
+		// JDK 8 adds an empty locale-string, see also https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LANG-941
+		result.put( "", "[$-0409]" );
+		
 		return result;
 	}
 	
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/ss/util/TestDateFormatConverter.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/ss/util/TestDateFormatConverter.java
index e4b7c38927..95042e50f3 100644
--- a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/ss/util/TestDateFormatConverter.java
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/ss/util/TestDateFormatConverter.java
@@ -137,5 +137,11 @@ public final class TestDateFormatConverter extends TestCase {
         outputLocaleDataFormats(date, false, true, DateFormat.LONG, "Long" );
         outputLocaleDataFormats(date, false, true, DateFormat.FULL, "Full" );
     }
+    
+    public void testJDK8EmptyLocale() {
+        // JDK 8 seems to add an empty locale-string to the list returned via DateFormat.getAvailableLocales()
+        // therefore we now cater for this special locale as well
+        DateFormatConverter.getPrefixForLocale(new Locale(""));
+    }
 
 }