diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0fa5db07..f7585a06 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Guard against empty job slice returned by `JobSetStateIfRunningMany` when a job has been deleted mid-run. [PR #1308](https://github.com/riverqueue/river/pull/1308).
 - Fixed `JobRescuer` pagination so a full batch of running jobs with disabled or longer worker-specific timeouts can't prevent later stuck jobs from being rescued. [PR #1318](https://github.com/riverqueue/river/pull/1318).
 - If a job fails to unmarshal from JSON during job rescue or job execution, back off using the retry schedule and eventually discard it, similar to any other error that might occur. [PR #1324](https://github.com/riverqueue/river/pull/1324).
+- Fixed `JobListOrderByFinalizedAt` validation so finalized states are accepted while non-finalized states are rejected. [PR #1327](https://github.com/riverqueue/river/issues/1327).
 
 ## [0.40.0] - 2026-07-02
 
diff --git a/job_list_params.go b/job_list_params.go
index cebdf57b..c9f18016 100644
--- a/job_list_params.go
+++ b/job_list_params.go
@@ -232,6 +232,10 @@ func (p *JobListParams) toDBParams() (*dblist.JobListParams, error) {
 	}
 
 	if p.sortField == JobListOrderByFinalizedAt {
+		if len(p.states) == 0 {
+			return nil, errors.New("cannot order by finalized_at without finalized state filters")
+		}
+
 		currentNonFinalizedStates := make([]rivertype.JobState, 0, len(p.states))
 		for _, state := range p.states {
 			switch state {
@@ -240,9 +244,9 @@ func (p *JobListParams) toDBParams() (*dblist.JobListParams, error) {
 			case rivertype.JobStateCancelled, rivertype.JobStateCompleted, rivertype.JobStateDiscarded:
 			}
 		}
-		// This indicates the user overrode the States list with only non-finalized
-		// states prior to then requesting FinalizedAt ordering.
-		if len(currentNonFinalizedStates) == 0 {
+		// FinalizedAt ordering is only supported when filtering to finalized
+		// states because non-finalized jobs have no finalized_at value.
+		if len(currentNonFinalizedStates) > 0 {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot order by finalized_at with non-finalized state filters %+v", currentNonFinalizedStates)
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/job_list_params_test.go b/job_list_params_test.go
index acc5c758..3665500c 100644
--- a/job_list_params_test.go
+++ b/job_list_params_test.go
@@ -187,3 +187,60 @@ func Test_JobListCursor_MarshalJSON(t *testing.T) {
 		require.EqualError(t, err, "json: error calling MarshalText for type *river.JobListCursor: cursor initialized with only a job can't be marshaled; try a cursor from JobListResult instead")
 	})
 }
+
+func Test_JobListParams_toDBParams(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	t.Run("FinalizedAtWithDefaultStates", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+
+		dbParams, err := NewJobListParams().OrderBy(JobListOrderByFinalizedAt, SortOrderAsc).toDBParams()
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.Equal(t, []rivertype.JobState{
+			rivertype.JobStateCancelled,
+			rivertype.JobStateCompleted,
+			rivertype.JobStateDiscarded,
+		}, dbParams.States)
+	})
+
+	t.Run("FinalizedAtWithExplicitFinalizedStates", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+
+		dbParams, err := NewJobListParams().
+			States(rivertype.JobStateCompleted).
+			OrderBy(JobListOrderByFinalizedAt, SortOrderDesc).
+			toDBParams()
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.Equal(t, []rivertype.JobState{rivertype.JobStateCompleted}, dbParams.States)
+	})
+
+	t.Run("FinalizedAtWithMixedStates", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+
+		_, err := NewJobListParams().
+			States(rivertype.JobStateAvailable, rivertype.JobStateCompleted).
+			OrderBy(JobListOrderByFinalizedAt, SortOrderAsc).
+			toDBParams()
+		require.EqualError(t, err, "cannot order by finalized_at with non-finalized state filters [available]")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("FinalizedAtWithNonFinalizedStates", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+
+		_, err := NewJobListParams().
+			States(rivertype.JobStatePending, rivertype.JobStateRunning).
+			OrderBy(JobListOrderByFinalizedAt, SortOrderAsc).
+			toDBParams()
+		require.EqualError(t, err, "cannot order by finalized_at with non-finalized state filters [pending running]")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("FinalizedAtWithoutStates", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+
+		_, err := NewJobListParams().
+			States().
+			OrderBy(JobListOrderByFinalizedAt, SortOrderAsc).
+			toDBParams()
+		require.EqualError(t, err, "cannot order by finalized_at without finalized state filters")
+	})
+}