diff --git a/github/resource_github_issue_label.go b/github/resource_github_issue_label.go
index 42dfcaa8af..8612668ef0 100644
--- a/github/resource_github_issue_label.go
+++ b/github/resource_github_issue_label.go
@@ -80,10 +80,23 @@ func resourceGithubIssueLabelCreateOrUpdate(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interfa
 		ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, ctxId, d.Id())
 	}
 
+	// Pull out the original name. If we already have a resource, this is the
+	// parsed ID. If not, it's the value given to the resource.
+	var originalName string
+	if d.Id() == "" {
+		originalName = name
+	} else {
+		var err error
+		_, originalName, err = parseTwoPartID(d.Id(), "repository", "name")
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
 	log.Printf("[DEBUG] Querying label existence: %s (%s/%s)",
 		name, orgName, repoName)
 	existing, resp, err := client.Issues.GetLabel(ctx,
-		orgName, repoName, name)
+		orgName, repoName, originalName)
 	if err != nil && resp.StatusCode != http.StatusNotFound {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/github/resource_github_issue_label_test.go b/github/resource_github_issue_label_test.go
index 89d5bb0f7c..5ca77e60eb 100644
--- a/github/resource_github_issue_label_test.go
+++ b/github/resource_github_issue_label_test.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestAccGithubIssueLabel_basic(t *testing.T) {
-	var label github.Label
+	var label, updatedLabel github.Label
 
 	rn := "github_issue_label.test"
 	rString := acctest.RandString(5)
@@ -33,8 +33,9 @@ func TestAccGithubIssueLabel_basic(t *testing.T) {
 			{
 				Config: testAccGithubIssueLabelUpdateConfig(repoName),
 				Check: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
-					testAccCheckGithubIssueLabelExists(rn, &label),
-					testAccCheckGithubIssueLabelAttributes(&label, "bar", "FFFFFF"),
+					testAccCheckGithubIssueLabelExists(rn, &updatedLabel),
+					testAccCheckGithubIssueLabelAttributes(&updatedLabel, "bar", "FFFFFF"),
+					testAccCheckGithubIssueLabelIDUnchanged(&label, &updatedLabel),
 				),
 			},
 			{
@@ -168,6 +169,15 @@ func testAccCheckGithubIssueLabelAttributes(label *github.Label, name, color str
 	}
 }
 
+func testAccCheckGithubIssueLabelIDUnchanged(label, updatedLabel *github.Label) resource.TestCheckFunc {
+	return func(_ *terraform.State) error {
+		if *label.ID != *updatedLabel.ID {
+			return fmt.Errorf("label was recreated")
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+}
+
 func testAccGithubIssueLabelDestroy(s *terraform.State) error {
 	conn := testAccProvider.Meta().(*Organization).client