diff --git a/include/ALL.hpp b/include/ALL.hpp
index 52efc823e26b696b52e9d846c4050e2d3a5ccce9..f0c685ecc23c53da38e19791f3df8bd30bb07d67 100644
--- a/include/ALL.hpp
+++ b/include/ALL.hpp
@@ -822,10 +822,11 @@ private:
     errno = 0;
     mode_t mode = S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG; // rwx for user and group
     if(mkdir(filename, mode)) {
-      if(errno == EEXIST) return;
-      throw FilesystemErrorException(
-          __FILE__, __func__, __LINE__,
-          "Could not create output directory.");
+      if(errno != EEXIST) {
+        throw FilesystemErrorException(
+            __FILE__, __func__, __LINE__,
+            "Could not create output directory.");
+      }
     }
     // check permission in case directory already existed, but had wrong
     // permissions