diff --git a/linkerd/app/core/src/metrics.rs b/linkerd/app/core/src/metrics.rs
index 8f7d4bf789..84c03baeea 100644
--- a/linkerd/app/core/src/metrics.rs
+++ b/linkerd/app/core/src/metrics.rs
@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ impl FmtLabels for HTTPLocalRateLimitLabels {
                 self.error,
             )
         } else {
-            Ok(())
+            write!(f, ",ratelimit_error=\"{}\"", self.error)
         }
     }
 }