diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/system/user.py b/lib/ansible/modules/system/user.py
index f0b153b052..8d863ba8a5 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/system/user.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/system/user.py
@@ -367,6 +367,13 @@ class User(object):
                     cmd.append('-n')
                 else:
                     cmd.append('-N')
+            elif os.path.exists('/etc/SuSE-release'):
+                # -N did not exist in useradd before SLE 11 and did not
+                # automatically create a group
+                dist = platform.dist()
+                major_release = int(dist[1].split('.')[0])
+                if major_release >= 12:
+                    cmd.append('-N')
             else:
                 cmd.append('-N')