diff --git a/benchmarks/src/tpch/run.rs b/benchmarks/src/tpch/run.rs
index f3cd2bb..b2ac282 100644
--- a/benchmarks/src/tpch/run.rs
+++ b/benchmarks/src/tpch/run.rs
@@ -119,26 +119,12 @@ impl DistributedSessionBuilder for RunOpt {
     ) -> Result<SessionState, DataFusionError> {
         let mut builder = SessionStateBuilder::new().with_default_features();
 
-        let mut config = self
+        let config = self
             .common
             .config()?
             .with_collect_statistics(!self.disable_statistics)
             .with_target_partitions(self.partitions());
 
-        // FIXME: these three options are critical for the correct function of the library
-        // but we are not enforcing that the user sets them.  They are here at the moment
-        // but we should figure out a way to do this better.
-        config
-            .options_mut()
-            .optimizer
-            .hash_join_single_partition_threshold = 0;
-        config
-            .options_mut()
-            .optimizer
-            .hash_join_single_partition_threshold_rows = 0;
-
-        config.options_mut().optimizer.prefer_hash_join = self.prefer_hash_join;
-        // end critical options section
         let rt_builder = self.common.runtime_env_builder()?;
 
         if self.distributed {
diff --git a/src/common/util.rs b/src/common/util.rs
index e1508c3..085c5c2 100644
--- a/src/common/util.rs
+++ b/src/common/util.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
-use datafusion::common::tree_node::{TreeNode, TreeNodeRecursion};
 use datafusion::error::Result;
 use datafusion::physical_plan::{displayable, ExecutionPlan, ExecutionPlanProperties};
 
 use std::fmt::Write;
-use std::sync::Arc;
 
 pub fn display_plan_with_partition_in_out(plan: &dyn ExecutionPlan) -> Result<String> {
     let mut f = String::new();
diff --git a/src/physical_optimizer.rs b/src/physical_optimizer.rs
index 4027d38..2b3489b 100644
--- a/src/physical_optimizer.rs
+++ b/src/physical_optimizer.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use super::stage::ExecutionStage;
 use crate::{plan::PartitionIsolatorExec, ArrowFlightReadExec};
 use datafusion::common::tree_node::TreeNodeRecursion;
 use datafusion::error::DataFusionError;
+use datafusion::physical_plan::joins::PartitionMode;
 use datafusion::{
     common::{
         internal_datafusion_err,
@@ -160,6 +161,7 @@ impl DistributedPhysicalOptimizerRule {
 ///
 /// The plans we cannot split are:
 /// - NestedLoopJoinExec
+/// - HashJoinExec with PartitionMode != Partitioned, like CollectLeft
 pub fn can_be_divided(plan: &Arc<dyn ExecutionPlan>) -> Result<bool> {
     // recursively check to see if this stages plan contains a NestedLoopJoinExec
     let mut has_unsplittable_plan = false;
@@ -170,6 +172,14 @@ pub fn can_be_divided(plan: &Arc<dyn ExecutionPlan>) -> Result<bool> {
         {
             has_unsplittable_plan = true;
             return Ok(TreeNodeRecursion::Stop);
+        } else if let Some(hash_join) = f
+            .as_any()
+            .downcast_ref::<datafusion::physical_plan::joins::HashJoinExec>()
+        {
+            if hash_join.partition_mode() != &PartitionMode::Partitioned {
+                has_unsplittable_plan = true;
+                return Ok(TreeNodeRecursion::Stop);
+            }
         }
 
         Ok(TreeNodeRecursion::Continue)
diff --git a/tests/tpch_validation_test.rs b/tests/tpch_validation_test.rs
index 6c4bb0f..8e73dc4 100644
--- a/tests/tpch_validation_test.rs
+++ b/tests/tpch_validation_test.rs
@@ -132,22 +132,7 @@ mod tests {
     async fn build_state(
         ctx: DistributedSessionBuilderContext,
     ) -> Result<SessionState, DataFusionError> {
-        let mut config = SessionConfig::new().with_target_partitions(3);
-
-        // FIXME: these three options are critical for the correct function of the library
-        // but we are not enforcing that the user sets them.  They are here at the moment
-        // but we should figure out a way to do this better.
-        config
-            .options_mut()
-            .optimizer
-            .hash_join_single_partition_threshold = 0;
-        config
-            .options_mut()
-            .optimizer
-            .hash_join_single_partition_threshold_rows = 0;
-
-        config.options_mut().optimizer.prefer_hash_join = true;
-        // end critical options section
+        let config = SessionConfig::new().with_target_partitions(3);
 
         let rule = DistributedPhysicalOptimizerRule::new().with_maximum_partitions_per_task(2);
         Ok(SessionStateBuilder::new()