diff --git a/NEXT_CHANGELOG.md b/NEXT_CHANGELOG.md
index d3b51b7ba..5c0f2f73c 100644
--- a/NEXT_CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/NEXT_CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,10 +7,12 @@
 ### New Features and Improvements
 
 ### Bug Fixes
+* Fix potential panic in `shouldRetry` function by using comma-ok idiom for type assertion ([#1438](https://github.com/databricks/databricks-sdk-go/pull/1438)).
 
 ### Documentation
 
 ### Internal Changes
+* Remove deprecated `rand.Seed` call in retry backoff logic ([#1438](https://github.com/databricks/databricks-sdk-go/pull/1438)).
 
 ### API Changes
 * Add `Force` field for [pipelines.DeletePipelineRequest](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/databricks/databricks-sdk-go/service/pipelines#DeletePipelineRequest).
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/retries/retries.go b/retries/retries.go
index a0ce9354b..b6cc5b81f 100644
--- a/retries/retries.go
+++ b/retries/retries.go
@@ -77,7 +77,6 @@ func backoff(attempt int) time.Duration {
 		wait = maxWait
 	}
 	// add some random jitter
-	rand.Seed(time.Now().UnixNano())
 	jitter := rand.Intn(int(maxJitter)-int(minJitter)+1) + int(minJitter)
 	wait += time.Duration(jitter)
 	return wait
@@ -233,8 +232,8 @@ func shouldRetry(err error) bool {
 	if err == nil {
 		return false
 	}
-	e := err.(*Err)
-	if e == nil {
+	e, ok := err.(*Err)
+	if !ok || e == nil {
 		return false
 	}
 	return !e.Halt
diff --git a/retries/retries_test.go b/retries/retries_test.go
index 870518111..baf97d40e 100644
--- a/retries/retries_test.go
+++ b/retries/retries_test.go
@@ -127,6 +127,23 @@ func TestRetriesNegativeTimeout(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, r.config.Timeout(), time.Duration(-1))
 }
 
+func TestShouldRetryWithNonErrType(t *testing.T) {
+	// Test that shouldRetry handles non-*Err types gracefully without panicking
+	regularError := errors.New("a regular error")
+	assert.False(t, shouldRetry(regularError))
+
+	// Test with nil
+	assert.False(t, shouldRetry(nil))
+
+	// Test with *Err that should not retry
+	haltErr := Halt(errors.New("halt error"))
+	assert.False(t, shouldRetry(haltErr))
+
+	// Test with *Err that should retry
+	continueErr := Continue(errors.New("continue error"))
+	assert.True(t, shouldRetry(continueErr))
+}
+
 func ExampleNew() {
 	// Default retries for 20 minutes on any error
 	New[int]()