diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0875869..05d3f01 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/)
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [2.1.1] - 2018-05-17
+### Changed
+- Check for empty needle when calling str_pos, fixes #78
+
 ## [2.1.0] - 2018-04-06
 ### Changed
 - PHPCS version 3.2.3 or later is required.
diff --git a/MO4/Sniffs/Formatting/UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageSniff.php b/MO4/Sniffs/Formatting/UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageSniff.php
index a442931..46b00e5 100644
--- a/MO4/Sniffs/Formatting/UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageSniff.php
+++ b/MO4/Sniffs/Formatting/UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageSniff.php
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ private function checkShorthandPossible(
             );
 
             $replaceClassName = true;
-        } else if (strpos($fullClassName, $namespace) === 0) {
+        } else if ($namespace !== "" && strpos($fullClassName, $namespace) === 0) {
             $replacement = substr($fullClassName, strlen($namespace));
 
             $data    = [
diff --git a/MO4/Tests/Formatting/UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageUnitTest.pass.5.inc b/MO4/Tests/Formatting/UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageUnitTest.pass.5.inc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd5a2a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/MO4/Tests/Formatting/UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageUnitTest.pass.5.inc
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+<?php
+// bug #78
+
+class C
+{
+    /**
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function f()
+    {
+    }
+}
diff --git a/MO4/Tests/Formatting/UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageUnitTest.php b/MO4/Tests/Formatting/UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageUnitTest.php
index 7c30310..33ae52c 100644
--- a/MO4/Tests/Formatting/UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageUnitTest.php
+++ b/MO4/Tests/Formatting/UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageUnitTest.php
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ protected function getWarningList($testFile='')
         case 'UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageUnitTest.pass.2.inc':
         case 'UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageUnitTest.pass.3.inc':
         case 'UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageUnitTest.pass.4.inc':
+        case 'UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageUnitTest.pass.5.inc':
             return [];
         case 'UnnecessaryNamespaceUsageUnitTest.fail.1.inc':
             return [