diff --git a/src/uu/ls/src/ls.rs b/src/uu/ls/src/ls.rs
index 88af56bb1..cba9cdf53 100644
--- a/src/uu/ls/src/ls.rs
+++ b/src/uu/ls/src/ls.rs
@@ -3228,7 +3228,7 @@ fn calculate_padding_collection(
                 padding_collections.minor = minor_len.max(padding_collections.minor);
                 padding_collections.size = size_len
                     .max(padding_collections.size)
-                    .max(padding_collections.major + padding_collections.minor + 2usize);
+                    .max(padding_collections.major);
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_ls.rs b/tests/by-util/test_ls.rs
index 07ea8c9cd..19a3f5578 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_ls.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_ls.rs
@@ -1023,6 +1023,21 @@ fn test_ls_long_format() {
     ).unwrap());
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn test_ls_long_padding_of_size_column_with_multiple_files() {
+    let (at, mut ucmd) = at_and_ucmd!();
+
+    at.mkdir("dir");
+    at.touch("dir/a");
+    at.touch("dir/b");
+
+    ucmd.arg("-l")
+        .arg("dir")
+        .succeeds()
+        .stdout_contains(" 0 ")
+        .stdout_does_not_contain("  0 ");
+}
+
 /// This test tests `ls -laR --color`.
 /// This test is mainly about coloring, but, the recursion, symlink `->` processing,
 /// and `.` and `..` being present in `-a` all need to work for the test to pass.