diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/cucushift/chainupgrade/toimage/cucushift-chainupgrade-toimage-commands.sh b/ci-operator/step-registry/cucushift/chainupgrade/toimage/cucushift-chainupgrade-toimage-commands.sh
index e043438e5a550..95824cc83c93e 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/cucushift/chainupgrade/toimage/cucushift-chainupgrade-toimage-commands.sh
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/cucushift/chainupgrade/toimage/cucushift-chainupgrade-toimage-commands.sh
@@ -1147,7 +1147,7 @@ for target in "${TARGET_RELEASES[@]}"; do
     upgrade
     check_upgrade_status
 
-    if [[ $(oc get nodes -l node.openshift.io/os_id=rhel) != "" ]]; then
+    if [[ "${TARGET_MINOR_VERSION}" -lt "19" ]] && [[ $(oc get nodes -l node.openshift.io/os_id=rhel) != "" ]]; then
         echo "Found rhel worker..."
         run_command "oc get node -owide"
         if [[ $(oc get machineconfigpools worker -ojson | jq -r '.spec.paused') == "true" ]]; then
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/cucushift/upgrade/cpou/unpause-worker-mcp/cucushift-upgrade-cpou-unpause-worker-mcp-commands.sh b/ci-operator/step-registry/cucushift/upgrade/cpou/unpause-worker-mcp/cucushift-upgrade-cpou-unpause-worker-mcp-commands.sh
index 910edf4754fc6..c523772c13786 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/cucushift/upgrade/cpou/unpause-worker-mcp/cucushift-upgrade-cpou-unpause-worker-mcp-commands.sh
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/cucushift/upgrade/cpou/unpause-worker-mcp/cucushift-upgrade-cpou-unpause-worker-mcp-commands.sh
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@ for mcp in "${normal_mcp_arr[@]}"
 do
     check_mcp ${mcp} "True"
 done
+current_minor_ver="$(oc get clusterversion --no-headers | awk '{print $2}' | cut -f2 -d.)"
+echo -e "current minor version: ${current_minor_ver} \n"
+
 IFS=" " read -r -a arr <<<"$PAUSED_MCP_NAME"
 for mcp in "${arr[@]}";
 do
@@ -97,7 +100,7 @@ do
     printf "\n"
     unpause ${mcp}
     printf "\n"
-    if [[ $(oc get nodes -l node.openshift.io/os_id=rhel) != "" ]]; then
+    if [[ "${current_minor_ver}" -lt "19" ]] && [[ $(oc get nodes -l node.openshift.io/os_id=rhel) != "" ]]; then
         echo "Found rhel worker, this step is supposed to be used in eus upgrade, skipping mcp checking here, need to check it after rhel worker upgraded..."
         run_command "oc get machineconfigpools"
         run_command "oc get node -owide"
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/cucushift/upgrade/rhel-worker/cucushift-upgrade-rhel-worker-commands.sh b/ci-operator/step-registry/cucushift/upgrade/rhel-worker/cucushift-upgrade-rhel-worker-commands.sh
index ca2bf9ec08983..6b4a776c19bd7 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/cucushift/upgrade/rhel-worker/cucushift-upgrade-rhel-worker-commands.sh
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/cucushift/upgrade/rhel-worker/cucushift-upgrade-rhel-worker-commands.sh
@@ -207,13 +207,13 @@ EOF
 
 # Upgrade RHEL node
 function rhel_upgrade(){
+    local testcase="rhel"
     echo "Upgrading RHEL nodes"
     echo "Validating parsed Ansible inventory"
     ansible-inventory -i "${SHARED_DIR}/ansible-hosts" --list --yaml
     echo -e "\nRunning RHEL worker upgrade"
     sed -i 's|^remote_tmp.*|remote_tmp = /tmp/.ansible|g' /usr/share/ansible/openshift-ansible/ansible.cfg
     ansible-playbook -i "${SHARED_DIR}/ansible-hosts" /usr/share/ansible/openshift-ansible/playbooks/upgrade.yml -vvv || { export UPGRADE_FAILURE_TYPE="${testcase}"; return 1; }
-
     check_upgrade_status
 }