diff --git a/tzlocal/tz.go b/tzlocal/tz.go
index 473ae51..d2e3d64 100644
--- a/tzlocal/tz.go
+++ b/tzlocal/tz.go
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ func EnvTZ() (string, bool) {
 
 // RuntimeTZ get the full timezone name of the local machine
 func RuntimeTZ() (string, error) {
-
 	// Get the timezone from the TZ env variable
 	if name, ok := EnvTZ(); ok {
 		return name, nil
@@ -34,8 +33,7 @@ func RuntimeTZ() (string, error) {
 	// Get the timezone from the system file
 	name, err := LocalTZ()
 	if err != nil {
-		err = fmt.Errorf("failed to get local machine timezone: %w", err)
-		return "", err
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to get local machine timezone: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	return name, err
diff --git a/tzlocal/tz_unix.go b/tzlocal/tz_unix.go
index bd4ad3c..02f8684 100644
--- a/tzlocal/tz_unix.go
+++ b/tzlocal/tz_unix.go
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ func LocalTZ() (string, error) {
 		return name, err
 	}
 
-	p, err := os.Readlink(localZoneFile)
+	p, err := filepath.EvalSymlinks(localZoneFile)
 	if err != nil {
 		return name, err
 	}
diff --git a/tzlocal/tz_unix_test.go b/tzlocal/tz_unix_test.go
index 5f3c856..68e87d3 100644
--- a/tzlocal/tz_unix_test.go
+++ b/tzlocal/tz_unix_test.go
@@ -57,3 +57,13 @@ func Test_inferFromPath(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestRuntimeTZ(t *testing.T) {
+	got, err := RuntimeTZ()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("RuntimeTZ failed with %v", err.Error())
+	}
+	if got == "" {
+		t.Error("RuntimeTZ returned empty timezone string")
+	}
+}