diff --git a/src/main/java/io/stargate/sgv2/jsonapi/api/model/command/clause/sort/SortClause.java b/src/main/java/io/stargate/sgv2/jsonapi/api/model/command/clause/sort/SortClause.java
index 92fcddcd64..4724f56c11 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/stargate/sgv2/jsonapi/api/model/command/clause/sort/SortClause.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/stargate/sgv2/jsonapi/api/model/command/clause/sort/SortClause.java
@@ -25,18 +25,15 @@ public record SortClause(@Valid List<SortExpression> sortExpressions) {
 
   public boolean hasVsearchClause() {
     return sortExpressions != null
-        && sortExpressions.stream()
-            .findFirst()
-            .get()
-            .path()
-            .equals(DocumentConstants.Fields.VECTOR_EMBEDDING_FIELD);
+        && !sortExpressions.isEmpty()
+        && sortExpressions.get(0).path().equals(DocumentConstants.Fields.VECTOR_EMBEDDING_FIELD);
   }
 
   public boolean hasVectorizeSearchClause() {
     return sortExpressions != null
-        && sortExpressions.stream()
-            .findFirst()
-            .get()
+        && !sortExpressions.isEmpty()
+        && sortExpressions
+            .get(0)
             .path()
             .equals(DocumentConstants.Fields.VECTOR_EMBEDDING_TEXT_FIELD);
   }
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/stargate/sgv2/jsonapi/api/v1/FindIntegrationTest.java b/src/test/java/io/stargate/sgv2/jsonapi/api/v1/FindIntegrationTest.java
index f310b40df4..834e39513d 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/stargate/sgv2/jsonapi/api/v1/FindIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/stargate/sgv2/jsonapi/api/v1/FindIntegrationTest.java
@@ -241,6 +241,43 @@ public void byId() {
           .body("data.documents", hasSize(1));
     }
 
+    // https://github.com/stargate/jsonapi/issues/572 -- is passing empty Object for "sort" ok?
+    @Test
+    public void byIdEmptySort() {
+      given()
+          .header(HttpConstants.AUTHENTICATION_TOKEN_HEADER_NAME, getAuthToken())
+          .contentType(ContentType.JSON)
+          .body(
+              """
+                {
+                  "find": {
+                    "filter": {"username" : "user1"},
+                    "projection": {},
+                    "options": {},
+                    "sort": { }
+                  }
+                }
+              """)
+          .when()
+          .post(CollectionResource.BASE_PATH, namespaceName, collectionName)
+          .then()
+          .statusCode(200)
+          .body("status", is(nullValue()))
+          .body("errors", is(nullValue()))
+          .body(
+              "data.documents[0]",
+              jsonEquals(
+                  """
+                {
+                    "_id": "doc1",
+                    "username": "user1",
+                    "active_user" : true,
+                    "date" : {"$date": 1672531200000}
+                }
+                """))
+          .body("data.documents", hasSize(1));
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void byDateId() {
       String json =
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/stargate/sgv2/jsonapi/api/v1/FindOneIntegrationTest.java b/src/test/java/io/stargate/sgv2/jsonapi/api/v1/FindOneIntegrationTest.java
index be811883ff..49d9996178 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/stargate/sgv2/jsonapi/api/v1/FindOneIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/stargate/sgv2/jsonapi/api/v1/FindOneIntegrationTest.java
@@ -209,19 +209,42 @@ public void noFilterSortDescending() {
 
     @Test
     public void byId() {
-      String json =
-          """
+      given()
+          .header(HttpConstants.AUTHENTICATION_TOKEN_HEADER_NAME, getAuthToken())
+          .contentType(ContentType.JSON)
+          .body(
+              """
           {
             "findOne": {
               "filter" : {"_id" : "doc1"}
             }
           }
-          """;
+          """)
+          .when()
+          .post(CollectionResource.BASE_PATH, namespaceName, collectionName)
+          .then()
+          .statusCode(200)
+          .body("data.document", is(not(nullValue())))
+          .body("data.document", jsonEquals(DOC1_JSON))
+          .body("status", is(nullValue()))
+          .body("errors", is(nullValue()));
+    }
 
+    // https://github.com/stargate/jsonapi/issues/572 -- is passing empty Object for "sort" ok?
+    @Test
+    public void byIdEmptySort() {
       given()
           .header(HttpConstants.AUTHENTICATION_TOKEN_HEADER_NAME, getAuthToken())
           .contentType(ContentType.JSON)
-          .body(json)
+          .body(
+              """
+                {
+                  "findOne": {
+                    "filter": {"_id" : "doc1"},
+                    "sort": {}
+                  }
+                }
+                """)
           .when()
           .post(CollectionResource.BASE_PATH, namespaceName, collectionName)
           .then()