diff --git a/pkg/cluster/k8sres.go b/pkg/cluster/k8sres.go
index c5a58ed5aee25fc152f4afd7e2258d74847f28fc..6b82efd1afe277135cf90e02483e4ad7e8795ce2 100644
--- a/pkg/cluster/k8sres.go
+++ b/pkg/cluster/k8sres.go
@@ -1010,6 +1010,9 @@ func (c *Cluster) generateSpiloPodEnvVars(
 
 	if c.patroniUsesKubernetes() {
 		envVars = append(envVars, v1.EnvVar{Name: "DCS_ENABLE_KUBERNETES_API", Value: "true"})
+		if c.OpConfig.EnablePodDisruptionBudget != nil && !(*c.OpConfig.EnablePodDisruptionBudget) {
+			envVars = append(envVars, v1.EnvVar{Name: "KUBERNETES_BOOTSTRAP_LABELS", Value: "{\"critical-operation\":\"true\"}"})
+		}
 	} else {
 		envVars = append(envVars, v1.EnvVar{Name: "ETCD_HOST", Value: c.OpConfig.EtcdHost})
 	}