diff --git a/eng/pipelines/templates/steps/run_black.yml b/eng/pipelines/templates/steps/run_black.yml
index 03ed7e8e9880..85f2c9a68790 100644
--- a/eng/pipelines/templates/steps/run_black.yml
+++ b/eng/pipelines/templates/steps/run_black.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ steps:
     condition: succeededOrFailed()
 
   - script: |
-      pip install black==21.6b0 tools/azure-sdk-tools["build"]
+      pip install black==22.3.0 tools/azure-sdk-tools["build"]
     displayName: 'Prep Environment'
     condition: succeededOrFailed()
 
diff --git a/scripts/devops_tasks/validate_formatting.py b/scripts/devops_tasks/validate_formatting.py
index aca9f3475b83..f7010cd9f281 100644
--- a/scripts/devops_tasks/validate_formatting.py
+++ b/scripts/devops_tasks/validate_formatting.py
@@ -38,10 +38,15 @@ def run_black(service_dir):
 
             if stderr:
                 results.append((package_name, stderr))
-
-            if stdout:
-                if "reformatted" in stdout.decode('utf-8'):
-                    results.append((package_name, False))
+        
+            if out.returncode > 0:
+                print(f"black ran into an unexpected failure while analyzing the code for {package_name}")
+                if stdout:
+                    print(stdout.decode('utf-8'))
+                exit(out.returncode)
+
+            if stdout and "reformatted" in stdout.decode('utf-8'):
+                results.append((package_name, False))
             else:
                 print(f"black succeeded against {package_name}")