diff --git a/addons/hr/hr.py b/addons/hr/hr.py
index f25383f3503..fcd6d57148d 100644
--- a/addons/hr/hr.py
+++ b/addons/hr/hr.py
@@ -148,11 +148,9 @@ class hr_employee(osv.osv):
     }
 
     def _check_recursion(self, cr, uid, ids, context=None):
-        if context is None:
-            context = {}
         level = 100
         while len(ids):
-            cr.execute('select distinct parent_id from hr_employee where id IN %s',(tuple(ids),))
+            cr.execute('SELECT DISTINCT parent_id FROM hr_employee WHERE id IN %s AND parent_id!=id',(tuple(ids),))
             ids = filter(None, map(lambda x:x[0], cr.fetchall()))
             if not level:
                 return False