diff --git a/backend/src/main/resources/application.properties b/backend/src/main/resources/application.properties
index de3f94759..83f2635e0 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/resources/application.properties
+++ b/backend/src/main/resources/application.properties
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update
 spring.jpa.hibernate.naming.implicit-strategy=org.hibernate.boot.model.naming.ImplicitNamingStrategyJpaCompliantImpl
 spring.jpa.show-sql=false
 spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.format_sql=false
-
+spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.check_nullability=true
 spring.jpa.hibernate.use-new-id-generator-mappings=true
 
 #Envers versioning
diff --git a/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/repository/CustomEntityAttributeDefinitionRepositoryTests.groovy b/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/repository/CustomEntityAttributeDefinitionRepositoryTests.groovy
index 5c7f8cf8e..64dc3cdd3 100644
--- a/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/repository/CustomEntityAttributeDefinitionRepositoryTests.groovy
+++ b/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/repository/CustomEntityAttributeDefinitionRepositoryTests.groovy
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ class CustomEntityAttributeDefinitionRepositoryTests extends Specification {
         
         then:
         // Missing non-nullable field should thrown error
-        final def exception = thrown(javax.persistence.PersistenceException)
+        final def exception = thrown(org.springframework.dao.DataIntegrityViolationException)
     }
         
     def "basic CRUD operations validated"() {
diff --git a/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/security/repository/GroupsRepositoryTests.groovy b/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/security/repository/GroupsRepositoryTests.groovy
index a5c8f07f5..805c8d27c 100644
--- a/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/security/repository/GroupsRepositoryTests.groovy
+++ b/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/security/repository/GroupsRepositoryTests.groovy
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ class GroupsRepositoryTests extends Specification {
         
         then:
         // Missing non-nullable field (name) should thrown error
-        final def exception = thrown(javax.persistence.PersistenceException)
+        final def exception = thrown(org.springframework.dao.DataIntegrityViolationException)
     }
         
     def "basic CRUD operations validated"() {