diff --git a/nipype/pipeline/plugins/slurm.py b/nipype/pipeline/plugins/slurm.py
index e27c05be04..4645e52fba 100644
--- a/nipype/pipeline/plugins/slurm.py
+++ b/nipype/pipeline/plugins/slurm.py
@@ -70,6 +70,14 @@ def _is_pending(self, taskid):
                 terminal_output='allatonce').run()
             return res.runtime.stdout.find(str(taskid)) > -1
         except RuntimeError as e:
+            if any(ss in str(e) for ss
+                   in ['Socket timed out', 'not available at the moment']):
+                # do not raise error and allow recheck
+                logger.warning(
+                    "SLURM timeout encountered while checking job status,"
+                    " treating job %d as pending", taskid
+                )
+                return True
             if 'Invalid job id' not in str(e):
                 raise(e)
             return False