diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/CMakeLists.txt b/maxscale-system-test/CMakeLists.txt
index 57ae856a4..31e6c5a21 100644
--- a/maxscale-system-test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -518,6 +518,10 @@ add_test_executable(mxs1509.cpp mxs1509 mxs1509 LABELS REPL_BACKEND)
  # https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MXS-1516
 add_test_executable(mxs1516.cpp mxs1516 replication LABELS REPL_BACKEND)
 
+ # MXS-1542: Check that UTF16 strings work
+ # https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MXS-1542
+add_test_executable(mxs1542.cpp mxs1542 avro LABELS REPL_BACKEND)
+
  # MXS-1585: Crash in MaxScale 2.1.12
  # https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MXS-1585
 add_test_executable(mxs1585.cpp mxs1585 mxs1585 LABELS REPL_BACKEND)
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/mxs1542.cpp b/maxscale-system-test/mxs1542.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..738466129
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/mxs1542.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/**
+ * MXS-1542: https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MXS-1542
+ *
+ * Check that UTF16 strings work.
+ */
+
+#include "testconnections.h"
+
+int main(int argc, char** argv)
+{
+    TestConnections::skip_maxscale_start(true);
+    TestConnections::check_nodes(false);
+    TestConnections test(argc, argv);
+
+    test.replicate_from_master();
+
+    test.repl->connect();
+    execute_query(test.repl->nodes[0],
+                  "CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE t1 (data varchar(30) NOT NULL) DEFAULT CHARSET=utf16");
+    execute_query(test.repl->nodes[0],
+                  "INSERT INTO t1 VALUES ('Hello World'), ('Բարեւ աշխարհ'), ('こんにちは世界'), ('你好，世界'), ('Привет мир')");
+
+    // Wait for the data to be processed
+    const char* logmsg = "Waiting until more data is written";
+    test.ssh_maxscale(true,
+                      "for ((i=0;i<15;i++)); do grep '%s' /var/log/maxscale/maxscale.log && break || sleep 1; done", logmsg);
+
+    // Check if the Avro file contains the inserted value
+    int rc = test.ssh_maxscale(true,
+                               "maxavrocheck -d /var/lib/maxscale/avro/test.t1.000001.avro|grep 'Hello World'");
+    test.add_result(rc == 0, "Data is converted when a failure to convert is expected");
+
+    printf("\n"
+           "o-------------------------------------------------------------------o\n"
+           "|The test is expected to fail, change it when the MXS-1542 is fixed.|\n"
+           "o-------------------------------------------------------------------o\n"
+           "\n");
+
+    return test.global_result;
+}