diff --git a/.github/component-label-map.yml b/.github/component-label-map.yml
index 8837311372..1ec3c1a23a 100644
--- a/.github/component-label-map.yml
+++ b/.github/component-label-map.yml
@@ -131,6 +131,11 @@ pkg:instrumentation-ioredis:
           - plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-ioredis/**
           - packages/opentelemetry-test-utils/**
           - packages/opentelemetry-redis-common/**
+pkg:instrumentation-kafkajs:
+  - changed-files:
+      - any-glob-to-any-file:
+          - plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/**
+          - packages/opentelemetry-test-utils/**
 pkg:instrumentation-knex:
   - changed-files:
       - any-glob-to-any-file:
diff --git a/plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/README.md b/plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/README.md
index 6bf6185505..14a239039b 100644
--- a/plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/README.md
+++ b/plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/README.md
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ This package uses `@opentelemetry/semantic-conventions` version `1.30+`, which i
 | --------------------- | ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
 | Consumer              | `messaging.process.duration`          | Duration of processing operation. [1]                        |
 | Consumer              | `messaging.client.consumed.messages`  | Number of messages that were delivered to the application.   |
-| Consumer and Producer | `messaging.client.operation.duration` | Number of messages that were delivered to the application.   |
+| Consumer and Producer | `messaging.client.operation.duration` | Number of messages that were delivered to the application. (Only emitted for kafkajs@1.5.0 and later.)   |
 | Producer              | `messaging.client.sent.messages`      | Number of messages producer attempted to send to the broker. |
 
 **[1] `messaging.process.duration`:** In the context of `eachBatch`, this metric will be emitted once for each message but the value reflects the duration of the entire batch.
diff --git a/plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/src/instrumentation.ts b/plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/src/instrumentation.ts
index 4ea12bd502..2f1c605293 100644
--- a/plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/src/instrumentation.ts
+++ b/plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/src/instrumentation.ts
@@ -251,10 +251,13 @@ export class KafkaJsInstrumentation extends InstrumentationBase<KafkaJsInstrumen
   private _setKafkaEventListeners(kafkaObj: KafkaEventEmitter) {
     if (kafkaObj[EVENT_LISTENERS_SET]) return;
 
-    kafkaObj.on(
-      kafkaObj.events.REQUEST,
-      this._recordClientDurationMetric.bind(this)
-    );
+    // The REQUEST Consumer event was added in kafkajs@1.5.0.
+    if (kafkaObj.events?.REQUEST) {
+      kafkaObj.on(
+        kafkaObj.events.REQUEST,
+        this._recordClientDurationMetric.bind(this)
+      );
+    }
 
     kafkaObj[EVENT_LISTENERS_SET] = true;
   }
diff --git a/plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/test/kafkajs.test.ts b/plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/test/kafkajs.test.ts
index 88699f72bb..ada2b6e218 100644
--- a/plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/test/kafkajs.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/node/instrumentation-kafkajs/test/kafkajs.test.ts
@@ -220,9 +220,7 @@ describe('instrumentation-kafkajs', () => {
         );
         instrumentation.disable();
         instrumentation.enable();
-        producer = kafka.producer({
-          createPartitioner: kafkajs.Partitioners.LegacyPartitioner,
-        });
+        producer = kafka.producer();
       }
       beforeEach(() => {
         initializeProducer();
@@ -479,9 +477,7 @@ describe('instrumentation-kafkajs', () => {
         });
         instrumentation.disable();
         instrumentation.enable();
-        producer = kafka.producer({
-          createPartitioner: kafkajs.Partitioners.LegacyPartitioner,
-        });
+        producer = kafka.producer();
       });
 
       it('error in send create failed span', async () => {
@@ -634,9 +630,7 @@ describe('instrumentation-kafkajs', () => {
         instrumentation.disable();
         instrumentation.setConfig(config);
         instrumentation.enable();
-        producer = kafka.producer({
-          createPartitioner: kafkajs.Partitioners.LegacyPartitioner,
-        });
+        producer = kafka.producer();
       });
 
       it('producer hook add span attribute with value from message', async () => {
@@ -671,9 +665,7 @@ describe('instrumentation-kafkajs', () => {
         instrumentation.disable();
         instrumentation.setConfig(config);
         instrumentation.enable();
-        producer = kafka.producer({
-          createPartitioner: kafkajs.Partitioners.LegacyPartitioner,
-        });
+        producer = kafka.producer();
       });
 
       it('producer hook add span attribute with value from message', async () => {
@@ -1227,9 +1219,7 @@ describe('instrumentation-kafkajs', () => {
       storeRunConfig();
       instrumentation.disable();
       instrumentation.enable();
-      producer = kafka.producer({
-        createPartitioner: kafkajs.Partitioners.LegacyPartitioner,
-      });
+      producer = kafka.producer();
       consumer = kafka.consumer({ groupId: 'testing-group-id' });
     });