diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index fd768ee1..85eb828c 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
   vectors during training. Mixing of character and factor data will still lead
   to different results depending on the training order.
 * Add a rescale method for `difftime` objects (#382)
+* The `scale_cut` argument in `number()` now works as advertised for values 
+  below the lowest cut value (#346)
 
 # scales 1.2.1
 
diff --git a/R/label-number.R b/R/label-number.R
index 0e8e1a2e..5ae60123 100644
--- a/R/label-number.R
+++ b/R/label-number.R
@@ -327,9 +327,6 @@ scale_cut <- function(x, breaks, scale = 1, accuracy = NULL, suffix = "") {
   if (any(is.na(breaks))) {
     cli::cli_abort("{.arg scale_cut} values must not be missing")
   }
-  if (!identical(breaks[[1]], 0) && !identical(breaks[[1]], 0L)) {
-    cli::cli_abort("Smallest value of {.arg scales_cut} must be zero")
-  }
 
   break_suffix <- as.character(cut(
     abs(x * scale),
@@ -337,14 +334,13 @@ scale_cut <- function(x, breaks, scale = 1, accuracy = NULL, suffix = "") {
     labels = c(names(breaks)),
     right = FALSE
   ))
-  break_suffix[is.na(break_suffix)] <- names(which.min(breaks))
+  break_suffix[is.na(break_suffix)] <- ""
 
   break_scale <- scale * unname(1 / breaks[break_suffix])
   break_scale[which(break_scale %in% c(Inf, NA))] <- scale
 
-  # exact zero is not scaled
-  x_zero <- which(abs(x) == 0)
-  scale[x_zero] <- 1
+  # exact zero is not scaled, nor are values below lowest break
+  break_scale[abs(x) == 0 | is.na(break_scale)] <- 1
 
   suffix <- paste0(break_suffix, suffix)
   accuracy <- accuracy %||% stats::ave(x * break_scale, break_scale, FUN = precision)
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/label-number.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/label-number.md
index 49fdbe97..c70d7aa6 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/_snaps/label-number.md
+++ b/tests/testthat/_snaps/label-number.md
@@ -10,11 +10,6 @@
     Condition
       Error in `scale_cut()`:
       ! `scale_cut` must be a named numeric vector
-    Code
-      number(1, scale_cut = c(x = 1, y = 2))
-    Condition
-      Error in `scale_cut()`:
-      ! Smallest value of `scales_cut` must be zero
     Code
       number(1, scale_cut = c(x = 0, NA))
     Condition
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-label-number.R b/tests/testthat/test-label-number.R
index 60b11522..2f4a9399 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-label-number.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-label-number.R
@@ -171,7 +171,6 @@ test_that("scale_cut checks its inputs", {
   expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, {
     number(1, scale_cut = 0)
     number(1, scale_cut = "x")
-    number(1, scale_cut = c(x = 1, y = 2))
     number(1, scale_cut = c(x = 0, NA))
   })
 })