diff --git a/backend.php b/backend.php
index 72b563d05..dff780b1f 100644
--- a/backend.php
+++ b/backend.php
@@ -2252,6 +2252,8 @@
 	if ($op == "pref-labels") {
 
 		if (!GLOBAL_ENABLE_LABELS) { 
+
+			print "<p>Sorry, labels have been administratively disabled for this installation. Please contact instance owner or edit configuration file to enable this functionality.</p>";
 			return; 
 		}
 
diff --git a/prefs.php b/prefs.php
index a5efa356f..1e9aadd51 100644
--- a/prefs.php
+++ b/prefs.php
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ window.onload = init;
 		<? } ?>
 		<input id="filterConfigTab" class="prefsTab" type="submit" value="Content Filtering"
 			onclick="selectTab('filterConfig')">
-		<? if (GLOBAL_ENABLE_LABELS && get_pref($link, 'ENABLE_LABELS')) { ?>
+		<? if (get_pref($link, 'ENABLE_LABELS')) { ?>
 		<input id="labelConfigTab" class="prefsTab" type="submit" value="Label Editor"
 			onclick="selectTab('labelConfig')">
 		<? } ?>