diff --git a/pkg/cluster/k8sres.go b/pkg/cluster/k8sres.go
index cbcbb897a..9cb8419ae 100644
--- a/pkg/cluster/k8sres.go
+++ b/pkg/cluster/k8sres.go
@@ -955,9 +955,9 @@ func (c *Cluster) generateSpiloPodEnvVars(
 			Value: c.OpConfig.PodLeaderLabelValue,
 		},
 		{
-			Name: "KUBERNETES_STANDBY_LEADER_LABEL_VALUE",
+			Name:  "KUBERNETES_STANDBY_LEADER_LABEL_VALUE",
 			Value: c.OpConfig.PodStandbyLeaderLabelValue,
-		}
+		},
 		{
 			Name: "PGPASSWORD_SUPERUSER",
 			ValueFrom: &v1.EnvVarSource{
diff --git a/pkg/controller/operator_config.go b/pkg/controller/operator_config.go
index 78e752f1d..90583216f 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/operator_config.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/operator_config.go
@@ -110,6 +110,8 @@ func (c *Controller) importConfigurationFromCRD(fromCRD *acidv1.OperatorConfigur
 	}
 
 	result.PodRoleLabel = util.Coalesce(fromCRD.Kubernetes.PodRoleLabel, "spilo-role")
+	result.PodLeaderLabelValue = util.Coalesce(fromCRD.Kubernetes.PodLeaderLabelValue, "master")
+	result.PodStandbyLeaderLabelValue = util.Coalesce(fromCRD.Kubernetes.PodStandbyLeaderLabelValue, "master")
 	result.ClusterLabels = util.CoalesceStrMap(fromCRD.Kubernetes.ClusterLabels, map[string]string{"application": "spilo"})
 	result.InheritedLabels = fromCRD.Kubernetes.InheritedLabels
 	result.InheritedAnnotations = fromCRD.Kubernetes.InheritedAnnotations