diff --git a/lib/parallel-api.js b/lib/parallel-api.js
index 7dd56b5..4453beb 100644
--- a/lib/parallel-api.js
+++ b/lib/parallel-api.js
@@ -242,7 +242,19 @@ function transformString(string, options, buildOptions) {
     let pool = getWorkerPool();
     _logger.info('transformString is parallelizable');
     let serializedObj = { babel : serialize(options.babel), 'cacheKey': options.cacheKey };
-    return pool.exec('transform', [string, serializedObj]);
+    return pool
+      .exec('transform', [string, serializedObj])
+      .then((result) => {
+        if (result.error) {
+          // when the worker has an error it still resolves, but it has `error`
+          // and `stack` properties instead of `code` + `metadata`
+          //
+          // throw an error to properly fail the "top level" process as needed
+          throw new Error(result.error + result.stack);
+        }
+
+        return result;
+      });
   } else {
     if (JOBS <= 1) {
       _logger.info('JOBS <= 1, skipping worker, using main thread');
diff --git a/lib/worker.js b/lib/worker.js
index d120f71..c288842 100644
--- a/lib/worker.js
+++ b/lib/worker.js
@@ -7,13 +7,20 @@ const ParallelApi = require('./parallel-api');
 
 // transpile the input string, using the input options
 function transform(string, options) {
-  return new Promise(resolve => {
-    let result = transpiler.transform(string, ParallelApi.deserialize(options));
+  return Promise.resolve().then(() => {
+    try {
+      let result = transpiler.transform(string, ParallelApi.deserialize(options));
 
-    resolve({
-      code: result.code,
-      metadata: result.metadata
-    });
+      return {
+        code: result.code,
+        metadata: result.metadata
+      };
+    } catch (error) {
+      return {
+        error: error.message,
+        stack: error.stack,
+      };
+    }
   });
 }