diff --git a/src/share/vm/utilities/taskqueue.hpp b/src/share/vm/utilities/taskqueue.hpp
index d2b39c943dfdf860fa68565ea94f0a4f880cd331..0a2af4cdb4e670772acc8684fe48b0c84f46926d 100644
--- a/src/share/vm/utilities/taskqueue.hpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/utilities/taskqueue.hpp
@@ -714,6 +714,11 @@ GenericTaskQueue<E, F, N>::pop_local(volatile E& t) {
   } else {
     // Otherwise, the queue contained exactly one element; we take the slow
     // path.
+
+    // The barrier is required to prevent reordering the two reads of _age:
+    // one is the _age.get() below, and the other is _age.top() above the if-stmt.
+    // The algorithm may fail if _age.get() reads an older value than _age.top().
+    OrderAccess::loadload();
     return pop_local_slow(localBot, _age.get());
   }
 }