diff --git a/src/Auth0JWT.php b/src/Auth0JWT.php
index 8b8d8474..e179cf4d 100644
--- a/src/Auth0JWT.php
+++ b/src/Auth0JWT.php
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ public static function encode($client_id, $client_secret, $scopes = null, $custo
                 $payload["scopes"] = $scopes;
             }
 
-            if ($scopes) {
+            if ($custom_payload) {
                 $custom_payload = array_merge($custom_payload, $payload);
             }