diff --git a/server/grpc/filter.go b/server/grpc/filter.go
index ba806ba1f29..177499abe2d 100644
--- a/server/grpc/filter.go
+++ b/server/grpc/filter.go
@@ -50,7 +50,11 @@ func createFilterFunc(agentFilter rpc.Filter) queue.FilterFn {
 			// all task labels are required to be present for an agent to match
 			agentLabelValue, ok := agentFilter.Labels[taskLabel]
 			if !ok {
-				return false, 0
+				// Check for required label
+				agentLabelValue, ok = agentFilter.Labels["!"+taskLabel]
+				if !ok {
+					return false, 0
+				}
 			}
 
 			switch agentLabelValue {
diff --git a/server/grpc/filter_test.go b/server/grpc/filter_test.go
index 781f59e3cb4..4a4b01f7934 100644
--- a/server/grpc/filter_test.go
+++ b/server/grpc/filter_test.go
@@ -119,6 +119,17 @@ func TestCreateFilterFunc(t *testing.T) {
 			wantMatched: true,
 			wantScore:   2,
 		},
+		{
+			name: "Required label matches without shebang",
+			agentFilter: rpc.Filter{
+				Labels: map[string]string{"!org-id": "123", "platform": "linux", "extra": "value"},
+			},
+			task: &model.Task{
+				Labels: map[string]string{"org-id": "123", "platform": "linux", "empty": ""},
+			},
+			wantMatched: true,
+			wantScore:   20,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {