diff --git a/first-class-pipeline/src/com/freeleaps/devops/SemanticReleasingExecutor.groovy b/first-class-pipeline/src/com/freeleaps/devops/SemanticReleasingExecutor.groovy
index 239fda17..5f88be8f 100644
--- a/first-class-pipeline/src/com/freeleaps/devops/SemanticReleasingExecutor.groovy
+++ b/first-class-pipeline/src/com/freeleaps/devops/SemanticReleasingExecutor.groovy
@@ -40,12 +40,12 @@ class SemanticReleasingExecutor {
         def recentlyModified = false
         if (versionFileExists) {
           // check if VERSION file was modified recently (within last minute)
-          def recentlyModified = steps.sh(script: 'stat -c %Y "VERSION"', returnStdout: true).trim() as Long
+          def modTime = steps.sh(script: 'stat -c %Y "VERSION"', returnStdout: true).trim() as Long
           def currentTime = System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000
-          recentlyModified = (currentTime - recentlyModified) < 60
+          recentlyModified = (currentTime - modTime) < 60
         }
 
-        def released = fileExists && recentlyModified
+        def released = versionFileExists && recentlyModified
         if (released) {
           steps.env.LATEST_VERSION = steps.readFile('VERSION').trim()
           steps.env.SEMANTIC_RELEASED = true