diff --git a/lib/ramble/ramble/application.py b/lib/ramble/ramble/application.py
index 0f569b30f..85cc275a7 100644
--- a/lib/ramble/ramble/application.py
+++ b/lib/ramble/ramble/application.py
@@ -67,7 +67,18 @@
 
 experiment_status = Enum(
     "experiment_status",
-    ["UNKNOWN", "SETUP", "SUBMITTED", "RUNNING", "COMPLETE", "SUCCESS", "FAILED", "CANCELLED"],
+    [
+        "UNKNOWN",
+        # unresolved means the status is not fetched successfully
+        "UNRESOLVED",
+        "SETUP",
+        "SUBMITTED",
+        "RUNNING",
+        "COMPLETE",
+        "SUCCESS",
+        "FAILED",
+        "CANCELLED",
+    ],
 )
 
 _NULL_CONTEXT = "null"
diff --git a/var/ramble/repos/builtin/workflow_managers/slurm/workflow_manager.py b/var/ramble/repos/builtin/workflow_managers/slurm/workflow_manager.py
index 63d1e0acb..4a747ea24 100644
--- a/var/ramble/repos/builtin/workflow_managers/slurm/workflow_manager.py
+++ b/var/ramble/repos/builtin/workflow_managers/slurm/workflow_manager.py
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ def get_status(self, workspace):
         expander = self.app_inst.expander
         run_dir = expander.expand_var_name("experiment_run_dir")
         job_id_file = os.path.join(run_dir, ".slurm_job")
-        status = experiment_status.UNKNOWN
+        status = experiment_status.UNRESOLVED
         if not os.path.isfile(job_id_file):
             logger.warn("job_id file is missing")
             return status
@@ -228,7 +228,13 @@ def get_status(self, job_id):
         if not status_out:
             self._ensure_runner("sacct")
             sacct_args = ["-o", "state", "-X", "-n", "-j", job_id]
-            status_out = self.sacct_runner.command(*sacct_args, output=str)
+            try:
+                status_out = self.sacct_runner.command(*sacct_args, output=str)
+            except ProcessError as e:
+                status_out = ""
+                logger.debug(
+                    f"sacct returns error {e}. The status is not resolved correctly."
+                )
         return status_out.strip()
 
     def get_partitions(self):