diff --git a/app/Importer/Importer.php b/app/Importer/Importer.php
index ef14b75f4f..9795843f43 100644
--- a/app/Importer/Importer.php
+++ b/app/Importer/Importer.php
@@ -316,8 +316,8 @@ abstract class Importer
         $user->last_name = $user_array['last_name'];
         $user->username = $user_array['username'];
         $user->email = $user_array['email'];
-        $user->manager_id = $user_array['manager_id'] ?? false;
-        $user->department_id = $user_array['department_id'] ?? false;
+        $user->manager_id = $user_array['manager_id'] ?? null;
+        $user->department_id = $user_array['department_id'] ?? null;
         $user->activated = $user_array['activated'];
         $user->password = $this->tempPassword;
 
diff --git a/app/Importer/UserImporter.php b/app/Importer/UserImporter.php
index 4d006d1397..a30e79daed 100644
--- a/app/Importer/UserImporter.php
+++ b/app/Importer/UserImporter.php
@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ class UserImporter extends ItemImporter
         \Log::debug('UserImporter.php Activated fetchHumanBoolean: '. $this->fetchHumanBoolean($this->findCsvMatch($row, 'activated')));
 
         $this->item['employee_num'] = $this->findCsvMatch($row, 'employee_num');
-        $this->item['department_id'] = $this->createOrFetchDepartment($this->findCsvMatch($row, 'department'));
-        $this->item['manager_id'] = $this->fetchManager($this->findCsvMatch($row, 'manager_first_name'), $this->findCsvMatch($row, 'manager_last_name'));
+        $this->item['department_id'] = $this->createOrFetchDepartment($this->findCsvMatch($row, 'department'))  ?? null;
+        $this->item['manager_id'] = $this->fetchManager($this->findCsvMatch($row, 'manager_first_name'), $this->findCsvMatch($row, 'manager_last_name')) ?? null;
 
 
         $user = User::where('username', $this->item['username'])->first();