diff --git a/src/uu/date/src/date.rs b/src/uu/date/src/date.rs
index a94ffd65f..381619f06 100644
--- a/src/uu/date/src/date.rs
+++ b/src/uu/date/src/date.rs
@@ -262,6 +262,13 @@ pub fn uumain(args: impl uucore::Args) -> UResult<()> {
                 Ok(date) => {
                     // GNU `date` uses `%N` for nano seconds, however crate::chrono uses `%f`
                     let format_string = &format_string.replace("%N", "%f");
+                    // Refuse to pass this string to chrono as it is crashing in this crate
+                    if format_string.contains("%#z") {
+                        return Err(USimpleError::new(
+                            1,
+                            format!("invalid format {}", format_string.replace("%f", "%N")),
+                        ));
+                    }
                     // Hack to work around panic in chrono,
                     // TODO - remove when a fix for https://github.com/chronotope/chrono/issues/623 is released
                     let format_items = StrftimeItems::new(format_string);
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_date.rs b/tests/by-util/test_date.rs
index 4dc02ef6f..c8c33aa89 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_date.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_date.rs
@@ -356,6 +356,13 @@ fn test_invalid_format_string() {
     assert!(result.stderr_str().starts_with("date: invalid format "));
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn test_unsupported_format() {
+    let result = new_ucmd!().arg("+%#z").fails();
+    result.no_stdout();
+    assert!(result.stderr_str().starts_with("date: invalid format %#z"));
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_date_string_human() {
     let date_formats = vec![