diff --git a/cmd/workload/filtertest.go b/cmd/workload/filtertest.go
index 174d13222b..11062122b8 100644
--- a/cmd/workload/filtertest.go
+++ b/cmd/workload/filtertest.go
@@ -162,7 +162,6 @@ func (s *filterTestSuite) loadQueries() error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("can't open filterQueryFile: %v", err)
 		}
-		defer file.Close()
 	}
 	defer file.Close()
 
diff --git a/cmd/workload/historytest.go b/cmd/workload/historytest.go
index 198ba945e0..5d6115c0bb 100644
--- a/cmd/workload/historytest.go
+++ b/cmd/workload/historytest.go
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ func (s *historyTestSuite) loadTests() error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("can't open historyTestFile: %v", err)
 		}
-		defer file.Close()
 	}
 	defer file.Close()
 	if err := json.NewDecoder(file).Decode(&s.tests); err != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/workload/tracetest.go b/cmd/workload/tracetest.go
index 837f13fee0..3dc549b997 100644
--- a/cmd/workload/tracetest.go
+++ b/cmd/workload/tracetest.go
@@ -57,9 +57,7 @@ func newTraceTestSuite(cfg testConfig, ctx *cli.Context) *traceTestSuite {
 
 func (s *traceTestSuite) loadTests() error {
 	file, err := s.cfg.fsys.Open(s.cfg.traceTestFile)
-	if err == nil {
-		defer file.Close()
-	} else {
+	if err != nil {
 		// If not found in embedded FS, try to load it from disk
 		if !os.IsNotExist(err) {
 			return err
@@ -68,8 +66,8 @@ func (s *traceTestSuite) loadTests() error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("can't open traceTestFile: %v", err)
 		}
-		defer file.Close()
 	}
+	defer file.Close()
 	if err := json.NewDecoder(file).Decode(&s.tests); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("invalid JSON in %s: %v", s.cfg.traceTestFile, err)
 	}