diff --git a/java-spiffe-core/src/main/java/io/spiffe/workloadapi/retry/RetryHandler.java b/java-spiffe-core/src/main/java/io/spiffe/workloadapi/retry/RetryHandler.java
index 29e3dff9..7341fb31 100644
--- a/java-spiffe-core/src/main/java/io/spiffe/workloadapi/retry/RetryHandler.java
+++ b/java-spiffe-core/src/main/java/io/spiffe/workloadapi/retry/RetryHandler.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ public void scheduleRetry(final Runnable runnable) {
         if (exponentialBackoffPolicy.reachedMaxRetries(retryCount)) {
             return;
         }
-        executor.schedule(runnable, nextDelay.getSeconds(), TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        executor.schedule(runnable, nextDelay.toMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
         nextDelay = exponentialBackoffPolicy.nextDelay(nextDelay);
         retryCount++;
     }
diff --git a/java-spiffe-core/src/test/java/io/spiffe/workloadapi/retry/RetryHandlerTest.java b/java-spiffe-core/src/test/java/io/spiffe/workloadapi/retry/RetryHandlerTest.java
index 8d7a300a..cbf73d4f 100644
--- a/java-spiffe-core/src/test/java/io/spiffe/workloadapi/retry/RetryHandlerTest.java
+++ b/java-spiffe-core/src/test/java/io/spiffe/workloadapi/retry/RetryHandlerTest.java
@@ -32,23 +32,38 @@ void testScheduleRetry_defaultPolicy() {
 
         retryHandler.scheduleRetry(runnable);
 
-        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 1, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 1000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
         assertEquals(1, retryHandler.getRetryCount());
 
         // second retry
         retryHandler.scheduleRetry(runnable);
         assertEquals(2, retryHandler.getRetryCount());
-        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 2, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 2000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
 
         // third retry
         retryHandler.scheduleRetry(runnable);
         assertEquals(3, retryHandler.getRetryCount());
-        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 4, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 4000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
 
         // fourth retry
         retryHandler.scheduleRetry(runnable);
         assertEquals(4, retryHandler.getRetryCount());
-        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 8, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 8000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testScheduleRetry_subSecondDelay_usesMilliseconds() {
+        Runnable runnable = () -> { };
+        ExponentialBackoffPolicy exponentialBackoffPolicy = ExponentialBackoffPolicy.builder()
+                .initialDelay(Duration.ofMillis(250))
+                .build();
+
+        RetryHandler retryHandler = new RetryHandler(exponentialBackoffPolicy, scheduledExecutorService);
+
+        retryHandler.scheduleRetry(runnable);
+
+        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 250, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+        assertEquals(1, retryHandler.getRetryCount());
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -60,18 +75,18 @@ void testScheduleRetry_maxRetries() {
 
         retryHandler.scheduleRetry(runnable);
 
-        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 1, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 1000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
         assertEquals(1, retryHandler.getRetryCount());
 
         // second retry
         retryHandler.scheduleRetry(runnable);
         assertEquals(2, retryHandler.getRetryCount());
-        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 2, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 2000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
 
         // third retry
         retryHandler.scheduleRetry(runnable);
         assertEquals(3, retryHandler.getRetryCount());
-        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 4, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        verify(scheduledExecutorService).schedule(runnable, 4000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
 
         Mockito.reset(scheduledExecutorService);