diff --git a/lib/timers.js b/lib/timers.js
index 73844fdbcc7613..485f577d29f2f0 100644
--- a/lib/timers.js
+++ b/lib/timers.js
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ ObjectDefineProperty(setTimeout, customPromisify, {
 });
 
 function clearTimeout(timer) {
-  if (timer?._onTimeout) {
+  if (timer && timer._onTimeout) {
     timer._onTimeout = null;
     unenroll(timer);
     return;
diff --git a/lib/timers/promises.js b/lib/timers/promises.js
index cc2d264d987e20..ec13e873d8443c 100644
--- a/lib/timers/promises.js
+++ b/lib/timers/promises.js
@@ -53,7 +53,10 @@ function setTimeout(after, value, options = {}) {
         'boolean',
         ref));
   }
-  if (signal?.aborted) {
+  // TODO(@jasnell): If a decision is made that this cannot be backported
+  // to 12.x, then this can be converted to use optional chaining to
+  // simplify the check.
+  if (signal && signal.aborted) {
     return PromiseReject(new AbortError());
   }
   let oncancel;
@@ -95,7 +98,10 @@ function setImmediate(value, options = {}) {
         'boolean',
         ref));
   }
-  if (signal?.aborted) {
+  // TODO(@jasnell): If a decision is made that this cannot be backported
+  // to 12.x, then this can be converted to use optional chaining to
+  // simplify the check.
+  if (signal && signal.aborted) {
     return PromiseReject(new AbortError());
   }
   let oncancel;