diff --git a/sequencer.c b/sequencer.c
index ea96837cde..83f257e7fa 100644
--- a/sequencer.c
+++ b/sequencer.c
@@ -4228,6 +4228,8 @@ static int run_git_checkout(struct repository *r, struct replay_opts *opts,
 
 	cmd.git_cmd = 1;
 
+	if (startup_info->original_cwd)
+		cmd.dir = startup_info->original_cwd;
 	strvec_push(&cmd.args, "checkout");
 	strvec_push(&cmd.args, commit);
 	strvec_pushf(&cmd.env_array, GIT_REFLOG_ACTION "=%s", action);
diff --git a/t/t2501-cwd-empty.sh b/t/t2501-cwd-empty.sh
index b1182390ba..52335a8afe 100755
--- a/t/t2501-cwd-empty.sh
+++ b/t/t2501-cwd-empty.sh
@@ -166,11 +166,11 @@ test_expect_success 'cherry-pick fails if cwd needs to be removed' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'rebase does not clean cwd incidentally' '
-	test_incidental_dir_removal failure git rebase reverted
+	test_incidental_dir_removal success git rebase reverted
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'rebase fails if cwd needs to be removed' '
-	test_required_dir_removal failure git rebase fd_conflict
+	test_required_dir_removal success git rebase fd_conflict
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'revert does not clean cwd incidentally' '