diff --git a/container/openejb-core/src/test/java/org/apache/openejb/activemq/MdbWorkRejectionTest.java b/container/openejb-core/src/test/java/org/apache/openejb/activemq/MdbWorkRejectionTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cc5bc679232
--- /dev/null
+++ b/container/openejb-core/src/test/java/org/apache/openejb/activemq/MdbWorkRejectionTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.openejb.activemq;
+
+import org.apache.activemq.ActiveMQConnectionFactory;
+import org.apache.openejb.junit.ApplicationComposer;
+import org.apache.openejb.testing.Classes;
+import org.apache.openejb.testing.Configuration;
+import org.apache.openejb.testing.SimpleLog;
+import org.apache.openejb.testng.PropertiesBuilder;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import jakarta.ejb.ActivationConfigProperty;
+import jakarta.ejb.MessageDriven;
+import jakarta.jms.JMSContext;
+import jakarta.jms.Message;
+import jakarta.jms.MessageListener;
+import jakarta.jms.Queue;
+import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
+import java.util.concurrent.Semaphore;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+/**
+ * Saturates the thread pool of the resource adapter so that the work of an MDB with
+ * maxSessions=1 is rejected, then checks the MDB still consumes once the pool recovers.
+ */
+@SimpleLog
+@RunWith(ApplicationComposer.class)
+@Classes(cdi = true, innerClassesAsBean = true)
+public class MdbWorkRejectionTest {
+    @Configuration
+    public Properties config() {
+        return new PropertiesBuilder()
+                .p("amq", "new://Resource?type=ActiveMQResourceAdapter")
+                .p("amq.DataSource", "")
+                .p("amq.BrokerXmlConfig", "broker:(vm://localhost)?useJmx=false&persistent=false")
+                .p("amq.threadPoolSize", "2")
+                .p("amq.QueueSize", "1")
+                .p("amq.OfferTimeout", System.getProperty("offerTimeout", "1 second"))
+
+                .p("mdbs", "new://Container?type=MESSAGE")
+                .p("mdbs.ResourceAdapter", "amq")
+                .build();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void mdbConsumesAgainAfterRejectedWork() throws Exception {
+        // a plain connection, so the sends are not held back by the transaction of the test method
+        final JMSContext context = new ActiveMQConnectionFactory("vm://localhost?create=false").createContext();
+        final Queue block = context.createQueue("block");
+        final Queue victim = context.createQueue("victim");
+        // occupy both pool threads and the single queue slot
+        for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
+            context.createProducer().send(block, "block-" + i);
+        }
+        assertTrue("blockers did not start", Blocker.STARTED.tryAcquire(2, 10, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
+
+        // the work for this message can't be scheduled and is rejected after the offer timeout
+        context.createProducer().send(victim, "rejected");
+        Thread.sleep(3000);
+
+        // the external system recovers
+        Blocker.RELEASE.countDown();
+        assertTrue("blockers did not drain", Blocker.STARTED.tryAcquire(1, 10, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
+
+        context.createProducer().send(victim, "after-recovery");
+        assertTrue("MDB with maxSessions=1 never consumed again", Victim.RECEIVED.await(20, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
+        context.close();
+    }
+
+    @MessageDriven(activationConfig = {
+            @ActivationConfigProperty(propertyName = "destinationType", propertyValue = "jakarta.jms.Queue"),
+            @ActivationConfigProperty(propertyName = "destination", propertyValue = "block"),
+            @ActivationConfigProperty(propertyName = "maxSessions", propertyValue = "3")
+    })
+    public static class Blocker implements MessageListener {
+        static final Semaphore STARTED = new Semaphore(0);
+        static final CountDownLatch RELEASE = new CountDownLatch(1);
+
+        @Override
+        public void onMessage(final Message message) {
+            STARTED.release();
+            try {
+                RELEASE.await();
+            } catch (final InterruptedException e) {
+                Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    @MessageDriven(activationConfig = {
+            @ActivationConfigProperty(propertyName = "destinationType", propertyValue = "jakarta.jms.Queue"),
+            @ActivationConfigProperty(propertyName = "destination", propertyValue = "victim"),
+            @ActivationConfigProperty(propertyName = "maxSessions", propertyValue = "1")
+    })
+    public static class Victim implements MessageListener {
+        static final CountDownLatch RECEIVED = new CountDownLatch(1);
+
+        @Override
+        public void onMessage(final Message message) {
+            try {
+                if ("after-recovery".equals(message.getBody(String.class))) {
+                    RECEIVED.countDown();
+                }
+            } catch (final Exception e) {
+                throw new IllegalStateException(e);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}