diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index 1701a56..f4ed2e4 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -1065,6 +1065,10 @@ hide_node (struct ovl_data *lo, struct ovl_node *node, bool unlink_src)
             needs_whiteout = true;
         }
 
+      // if the parent directory is opaque, there's no need to put a whiteout in it.
+      if (node->parent != NULL)
+        needs_whiteout = needs_whiteout && (is_directory_opaque(get_upper_layer(lo), node->parent->path) < 1);
+
       if (needs_whiteout)
         {
           /* If the atomic rename+mknod failed, then fallback into doing it in two steps.  */
diff --git a/tests/fedora-installs.sh b/tests/fedora-installs.sh
index 19835ab..d9a1730 100755
--- a/tests/fedora-installs.sh
+++ b/tests/fedora-installs.sh
@@ -231,3 +231,20 @@ if test -e upperdir/test/.wh.a.txt; then
    echo "whiteout file still exists" >&2
    exit 1
 fi
+
+# https://github.com/containers/fuse-overlayfs/issues/306
+umount -l merged
+
+rm -rf lower upper workdir merged
+mkdir lower upper workdir merged
+
+mkdir -p lower/a/b
+fuse-overlayfs -o lowerdir=lower,upperdir=upper,workdir=workdir merged
+
+rm -rf merged/a
+mkdir -p merged/a/b
+rm -rf merged/a/b
+test \! -e upper/a/b
+
+umount merged
+