diff --git a/app/models/person.rb b/app/models/person.rb
index 3bd9f6c..bf1267e 100644
--- a/app/models/person.rb
+++ b/app/models/person.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # A person is the profile of an user holding all relationships with the rest of the system
 class Person < Profile
 
-  attr_accessible :organization, :contact_information, :sex
+  attr_accessible :organization, :contact_information, :sex, :birth_date
 
   SEARCH_FILTERS += %w[
     more_popular
@@ -159,9 +159,8 @@ class Person < Profile
   validates_multiparameter_assignments
 
   validates_each :birth_date do |record,attr,value|
-    if value && value.year == 1
-      record.errors.add(attr)
-    end
+    date_str = record.birth_date_before_type_cast
+    record.errors.add(attr) if value.blank? && !date_str.blank?
   end
 
   def self.fields
diff --git a/test/unit/person_test.rb b/test/unit/person_test.rb
index d0208fd..b881106 100644
--- a/test/unit/person_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/person_test.rb
@@ -1168,14 +1168,14 @@ class PersonTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
   should 'handle multiparameter attribute exception on birth date field' do
     assert_nothing_raised ActiveRecord::MultiparameterAssignmentErrors do
       p = Person.new(
-        :name => 'birthday', :identifier => 'birthday', :user_id => 999,
+        :name => 'birthday', :identifier => 'birthday',
         'birth_date(1i)' => '', 'birth_date(2i)' => '6', 'birth_date(3i)' => '16'
       )
     end
   end
 
   should 'not accept an empty year on birth date' do
-    p = Person.new({"birth_date(2i)"=>"11", "birth_date(3i)"=>"15", "birth_date(1i)"=>""})
+    p = Person.new(:birth_date => "1115")
     p.valid?
     assert p.errors[:birth_date.to_s].present?
   end
--
libgit2 0.21.2