diff --git a/backend/capellacollab/sessions/metrics.py b/backend/capellacollab/sessions/metrics.py
index ef430823b..960a2e551 100644
--- a/backend/capellacollab/sessions/metrics.py
+++ b/backend/capellacollab/sessions/metrics.py
@@ -33,10 +33,13 @@ def collect(self) -> t.Iterable[prometheus_client.core.Metric]:
         )
         operator = operators.get_operator()
         pods = operator.get_pods(label_selector=None)
-        statuses = sorted(
-            (pod.metadata.labels.get("workload", ""), pod.status.phase.lower())
-            for pod in pods
-        )
+        statuses = []
+        for pod in pods:
+            labels = pod.metadata.labels
+            if labels is None or "workload" not in labels:
+                continue
+
+            statuses.append((labels["workload"], pod.status.phase.lower()))
         for labels, g in itertools.groupby(statuses):
             metric.add_metric(labels, len(list(g)))
         yield metric
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_metrics.py b/backend/tests/test_metrics.py
index d0f69c2ae..49aeab99f 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_metrics.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_metrics.py
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright DB InfraGO AG and contributors
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
+import pytest
 from fastapi import testclient
+from kubernetes import client as k8s_client
 
-from capellacollab.sessions import metrics, operators
+from capellacollab.sessions import metrics
 
 
 def test_metrics_endpoint(client: testclient.TestClient):
@@ -13,7 +15,7 @@ def test_metrics_endpoint(client: testclient.TestClient):
     assert "# HELP " in response.text
 
 
-def test_database_sessions_metric(db):
+def test_database_sessions_metric_empty():
     collector = metrics.DatabaseSessionsCollector()
 
     data = list(collector.collect())
@@ -22,10 +24,50 @@ def test_database_sessions_metric(db):
     assert data[0].samples
 
 
-def test_kubernetes_sessions_metric(monkeypatch):
-    monkeypatch.setattr(operators, "get_operator", MockOperator)
-    collector = metrics.DeployedSessionsCollector()
+def test_kubernetes_sessions_metric(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
+    def mock_list_namespaced_pod(
+        self, namespace: str, label_selector: str
+    ) -> k8s_client.V1PodList:
+        return k8s_client.V1PodList(
+            items=[
+                k8s_client.V1Pod(
+                    metadata=k8s_client.V1ObjectMeta(),
+                    status=k8s_client.V1PodStatus(phase="running"),
+                ),
+                k8s_client.V1Pod(
+                    metadata=k8s_client.V1ObjectMeta(
+                        labels={"workload": "job"}
+                    ),
+                    status=k8s_client.V1PodStatus(phase="pending"),
+                ),
+                k8s_client.V1Pod(
+                    metadata=k8s_client.V1ObjectMeta(
+                        labels={"workload": "job"}
+                    ),
+                    status=k8s_client.V1PodStatus(phase="running"),
+                ),
+                k8s_client.V1Pod(
+                    metadata=k8s_client.V1ObjectMeta(
+                        labels={"workload": "session"}
+                    ),
+                    status=k8s_client.V1PodStatus(phase="running"),
+                ),
+                k8s_client.V1Pod(
+                    metadata=k8s_client.V1ObjectMeta(
+                        labels={"workload": "session"}
+                    ),
+                    status=k8s_client.V1PodStatus(phase="running"),
+                ),
+            ]
+        )
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        k8s_client.CoreV1Api,
+        "list_namespaced_pod",
+        mock_list_namespaced_pod,
+    )
 
+    collector = metrics.DeployedSessionsCollector()
     data = list(collector.collect())
 
     samples = {
@@ -38,30 +80,3 @@ def test_kubernetes_sessions_metric(monkeypatch):
         ("job", "pending"): 1,
         ("session", "running"): 2,
     }
-
-
-class MockOperator:
-    def get_pods(self, label_selector):
-        return [
-            attrdict(
-                metadata=attrdict(labels=dict(workload="job")),
-                status=attrdict(phase="running"),
-            ),
-            attrdict(
-                metadata=attrdict(labels=dict(workload="job")),
-                status=attrdict(phase="pending"),
-            ),
-            attrdict(
-                metadata=attrdict(labels=dict(workload="session")),
-                status=attrdict(phase="running"),
-            ),
-            attrdict(
-                metadata=attrdict(labels=dict(workload="session")),
-                status=attrdict(phase="running"),
-            ),
-        ]
-
-
-class attrdict(dict):
-    def __getattr__(self, name):
-        return self[name]