diff --git a/docs/maintainer-guide/releases.md b/docs/maintainer-guide/releases.md
index 4d9f0958751..5886ec1862c 100644
--- a/docs/maintainer-guide/releases.md
+++ b/docs/maintainer-guide/releases.md
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ On the day of a scheduled release, the release team should follow these steps:
 1. Make a release announcement in the public chatroom.
 1. Make a release announcement on Twitter.
 1. Make a release announcement on the release issue. Document any problems that occurred during the release, and remind the team not to merge anything other than documentation changes and bug fixes. Leave the release issue open.
+1. Add the `patch release pending` label to the release issue. (When this label is present, `eslint-github-bot` will create a pending status check on non-semver-patch pull requests, to ensure that they aren't accidentally merged while a patch release is pending.)
 
 On the Monday following the scheduled release, the release team needs to determine if a patch release is necessary. A patch release is considered necessary if any of the following occurred since the scheduled release: