diff --git a/pkgs/bazel_worker/CHANGELOG.md b/pkgs/bazel_worker/CHANGELOG.md
index 7377326fb..e0ad4b31b 100644
--- a/pkgs/bazel_worker/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/pkgs/bazel_worker/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+## 1.1.1
+
+* Fix a bug where if spawnWorker threw an error, work requests would hang
+  forever instead of failing.
+
 ## 1.1.0
 
 * Add constructors with named parameters to
diff --git a/pkgs/bazel_worker/lib/src/driver/driver.dart b/pkgs/bazel_worker/lib/src/driver/driver.dart
index b395bd55c..e0d57aee4 100644
--- a/pkgs/bazel_worker/lib/src/driver/driver.dart
+++ b/pkgs/bazel_worker/lib/src/driver/driver.dart
@@ -120,6 +120,10 @@ class BazelWorkerDriver {
           _readyWorkers.remove(worker);
           _runWorkQueue();
         });
+      }).onError<Object>((e, s) {
+        _spawningWorkers.remove(futureWorker);
+        if (attempt.responseCompleter.isCompleted) return;
+        attempt.responseCompleter.completeError(e, s);
       });
     }
     // Recursively calls itself until one of the bail out conditions are met.
diff --git a/pkgs/bazel_worker/pubspec.yaml b/pkgs/bazel_worker/pubspec.yaml
index 358f03e1e..425fd9be6 100644
--- a/pkgs/bazel_worker/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/pkgs/bazel_worker/pubspec.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name: bazel_worker
-version: 1.1.0
+version: 1.1.1
 description: >-
   Protocol and utilities to implement or invoke persistent bazel workers.
 repository: https://github.com/dart-lang/bazel_worker
diff --git a/pkgs/bazel_worker/test/driver_test.dart b/pkgs/bazel_worker/test/driver_test.dart
index 034d75a43..980ae2374 100644
--- a/pkgs/bazel_worker/test/driver_test.dart
+++ b/pkgs/bazel_worker/test/driver_test.dart
@@ -139,6 +139,12 @@ void main() {
       });
     });
 
+    test('handles spawnWorker failures', () async {
+      driver = BazelWorkerDriver(() async => throw StateError('oh no!'),
+          maxRetries: 0);
+      expect(driver!.doWork(WorkRequest()), throwsA(isA<StateError>()));
+    });
+
     tearDown(() async {
       await driver?.terminateWorkers();
       expect(MockWorker.liveWorkers, isEmpty);