diff --git a/src/JWT.php b/src/JWT.php
index 67514b29..57d92ba8 100644
--- a/src/JWT.php
+++ b/src/JWT.php
@@ -111,6 +111,10 @@ public static function decode(
         if (null === ($payload = static::jsonDecode($payloadRaw))) {
             throw new UnexpectedValueException('Invalid claims encoding');
         }
+        if (is_array($payload)) {
+            // prevent PHP Fatal Error in edge-cases when payload is empty array
+            $payload = (object) $payload;
+        }
         if (!$payload instanceof stdClass) {
             throw new UnexpectedValueException('Payload must be a JSON object');
         }
@@ -355,7 +359,7 @@ public static function jsonDecode(string $input)
     public static function jsonEncode(array $input): string
     {
         if (PHP_VERSION_ID >= 50400) {
-            $json = \json_encode($input, \JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES|\JSON_FORCE_OBJECT);
+            $json = \json_encode($input, \JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);
         } else {
             // PHP 5.3 only
             $json = \json_encode($input);
diff --git a/tests/JWTTest.php b/tests/JWTTest.php
index e1984b34..191e3d2c 100644
--- a/tests/JWTTest.php
+++ b/tests/JWTTest.php
@@ -330,6 +330,15 @@ public function testDecodesEmptyArrayAsObject()
         $this->assertEquals((object) $payload, $decoded);
     }
 
+    public function testDecodesArraysInJWTAsArray()
+    {
+        $key = 'yma6Hq4XQegCVND8ef23OYgxSrC3IKqk';
+        $payload = ['foo' => [1,2,3]];
+        $jwt = JWT::encode($payload, $key, 'HS256');
+        $decoded = JWT::decode($jwt, new Key($key, 'HS256'));
+        $this->assertEquals($payload['foo'], $decoded->foo);
+    }
+
     /**
      * @runInSeparateProcess
      * @dataProvider provideEncodeDecode