diff --git a/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/publish/validate_instance_has_members.py b/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/publish/validate_instance_has_members.py
index 4870f27bff..63849cfd12 100644
--- a/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/publish/validate_instance_has_members.py
+++ b/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/publish/validate_instance_has_members.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ class ValidateInstanceHasMembers(pyblish.api.InstancePlugin):
 
     @classmethod
     def get_invalid(cls, instance):
-
         invalid = list()
         if not instance.data["setMembers"]:
             objectset_name = instance.data['name']
@@ -22,6 +21,10 @@ class ValidateInstanceHasMembers(pyblish.api.InstancePlugin):
         return invalid
 
     def process(self, instance):
+        # Allow renderlayer and workfile to be empty
+        skip_families = ["workfile", "renderlayer", "rendersetup"]
+        if instance.data.get("family") in skip_families:
+            return
 
         invalid = self.get_invalid(instance)
         if invalid: