diff --git a/lib/internal/worker.js b/lib/internal/worker.js
index d88170ab9cd9cf..f44f9a6fda0dd1 100644
--- a/lib/internal/worker.js
+++ b/lib/internal/worker.js
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ class Worker extends EventEmitter {
 
     // Set up the C++ handle for the worker, as well as some internal wiring.
     this[kHandle] = new WorkerImpl(url,
-                                   env === process.env ? null : env,
+                                   env,
                                    options.execArgv,
                                    parseResourceLimits(options.resourceLimits),
                                    !!(options.trackUnmanagedFds ?? true));
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-worker-process-env-options.js b/test/parallel/test-worker-process-env-options.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..74287c26219c5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-worker-process-env-options.js
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+'use strict';
+const { Worker } = require('node:worker_threads');
+
+if (!require.main) {
+  globalThis.setup = true;
+} else {
+  process.env.NODE_OPTIONS ??= ``;
+  process.env.NODE_OPTIONS += ` --require ${JSON.stringify(__filename)}`;
+
+  new Worker(`
+    const assert = require('assert');
+    assert.strictEqual(globalThis.setup, true);
+  `, { eval: true });
+}