diff --git a/core/src/main/java/tech/tablesaw/io/FileReader.java b/core/src/main/java/tech/tablesaw/io/FileReader.java
index 4c8f96e51..b31850499 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/tech/tablesaw/io/FileReader.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/tech/tablesaw/io/FileReader.java
@@ -94,6 +94,11 @@ public String[] getColumnNames(
     if (options.header()) {
 
       String[] headerNames = parser.parseNext();
+      
+      if (headerNames == null) {
+        // no header because file is empty
+        return new String[] {};
+      }
 
       // work around issue where Univocity returns null if a column has no header.
       for (int i = 0; i < headerNames.length; i++) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/tech/tablesaw/io/csv/CsvReaderTest.java b/core/src/test/java/tech/tablesaw/io/csv/CsvReaderTest.java
index e9b418c6b..87ef74644 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/tech/tablesaw/io/csv/CsvReaderTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/tech/tablesaw/io/csv/CsvReaderTest.java
@@ -756,7 +756,7 @@ public void testReadFailure2() throws IOException {
 
   @Test
   public void testEmptyFileHeaderEnabled() throws IOException {
-    Table table1 = Table.read().csv(CsvReadOptions.builder("../data/empty_file.csv").header(false));
+    Table table1 = Table.read().csv(CsvReadOptions.builder("../data/empty_file.csv").header(true));
     assertEquals("empty_file.csv: 0 rows X 0 cols", table1.shape());
   }