diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9a65b6310..0c63c4bd7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 ### Bug Fixes
 
+- `Sentry::BackgroundWorker` will release `ActiveRecord` connection pool only when the `ActiveRecord` connection is established
 -  Remove bad encoding arguments in redis span descriptions [#1914](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-ruby/pull/1914)
   - Fixes [#1911](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-ruby/issues/1911)
 
diff --git a/sentry-rails/lib/sentry/rails/background_worker.rb b/sentry-rails/lib/sentry/rails/background_worker.rb
index c3167c841..56dcd6609 100644
--- a/sentry-rails/lib/sentry/rails/background_worker.rb
+++ b/sentry-rails/lib/sentry/rails/background_worker.rb
@@ -3,8 +3,11 @@ class BackgroundWorker
     def _perform(&block)
       block.call
     ensure
-      # make sure the background worker returns AR connection if it accidentally acquire one during serialization
-      ActiveRecord::Base.connection_pool.release_connection
+      # some applications have partial or even no AR connection
+      if ActiveRecord::Base.connected?
+        # make sure the background worker returns AR connection if it accidentally acquire one during serialization
+        ActiveRecord::Base.connection_pool.release_connection
+      end
     end
   end
 end