diff --git a/libcontainer/configs/validate/validator.go b/libcontainer/configs/validate/validator.go
index 4708e1b77..ed63e950e 100644
--- a/libcontainer/configs/validate/validator.go
+++ b/libcontainer/configs/validate/validator.go
@@ -383,8 +383,10 @@ func scheduler(config *configs.Config) error {
 	if s.Policy == "" {
 		return errors.New("scheduler policy is required")
 	}
-	if s.Nice < -20 || s.Nice > 19 {
-		return fmt.Errorf("invalid scheduler.nice: %d", s.Nice)
+	if s.Policy == specs.SchedOther || s.Policy == specs.SchedBatch {
+		if s.Nice < -20 || s.Nice > 19 {
+			return fmt.Errorf("invalid scheduler.nice: %d when scheduler.policy is %s", s.Nice, string(s.Policy))
+		}
 	}
 	if s.Priority != 0 && (s.Policy != specs.SchedFIFO && s.Policy != specs.SchedRR) {
 		return errors.New("scheduler.priority can only be specified for SchedFIFO or SchedRR policy")
diff --git a/libcontainer/configs/validate/validator_test.go b/libcontainer/configs/validate/validator_test.go
index 5c12e08a1..85b5e5eea 100644
--- a/libcontainer/configs/validate/validator_test.go
+++ b/libcontainer/configs/validate/validator_test.go
@@ -814,6 +814,9 @@ func TestValidateScheduler(t *testing.T) {
 		{isErr: false, policy: "SCHED_DEADLINE", runtime: 200},
 		{isErr: false, policy: "SCHED_DEADLINE", deadline: 300},
 		{isErr: false, policy: "SCHED_DEADLINE", period: 400},
+		{isErr: true, policy: "SCHED_OTHER", niceValue: 20},
+		{isErr: true, policy: "SCHED_OTHER", niceValue: -21},
+		{isErr: false, policy: "SCHED_FIFO", priority: 100, niceValue: 100},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range testCases {