diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-approvals.yaml b/.github/workflows/pr-approvals.yaml
index f5c0fd6c600..097bb83ad8f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-approvals.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-approvals.yaml
@@ -25,11 +25,15 @@ jobs:
           echo "$BODY" | egrep -qsi '^disable-check:.*\<approval-count\>'
           if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
             # Get the list of modified files in this pull request
-            files=$(gh pr view $PR_NUMBER --json files --jq '.files.[].path')
+            files=$(gh pr view $PR_NUMBER --json files --jq '.files.[].path | select(startswith(".github") | not)')
             # Get the list of approvals in this pull request
             approvals=$(gh pr view $PR_NUMBER --json reviews --jq '[.reviews.[] | select(.authorAssociation == "MEMBER" and .state == "APPROVED")] | length')
 
-            if [[ $approvals -lt 2 ]] && echo "${files}" | grep -Eq "^.github"; then
+            gh pr view $PR_NUMBER --json reviews --jq '[.reviews.[] | select(.authorAssociation == "MEMBER" and .state == "APPROVED")]
+
+            echo "Approvals: $approvals"
+
+            if [[ $approvals -lt 2 ]] && [[ ! "${files}" ]] ; then
               echo "This pull request requires 2 approvals before merging."
               echo
               echo "For trivial changes, you may disable this check by adding this trailer to the pull request message:"