diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/EventLoggingListener.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/EventLoggingListener.scala
index 042b2a563aac4..d822a8e55111a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/EventLoggingListener.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/EventLoggingListener.scala
@@ -52,8 +52,6 @@ private[spark] class EventLoggingListener(
   private val logBaseDir = conf.get("spark.eventLog.dir", "/tmp/spark-events").stripSuffix("/")
   private val name = appName.replaceAll("[ :/]", "-").toLowerCase + "-" + System.currentTimeMillis
   val logDir = logBaseDir + "/" + name
-  val LOG_FILE_PERMISSIONS: FsPermission =
-    FsPermission.createImmutable(Integer.parseInt("770", 8).toShort: Short)
 
   private val logger =
     new FileLogger(logDir, conf, hadoopConfiguration, outputBufferSize, shouldCompress,
@@ -67,11 +65,10 @@ private[spark] class EventLoggingListener(
     logInfo("Logging events to %s".format(logDir))
     if (shouldCompress) {
       val codec = conf.get("spark.io.compression.codec", CompressionCodec.DEFAULT_COMPRESSION_CODEC)
-      logger.newFile(COMPRESSION_CODEC_PREFIX + codec, Some(LOG_FILE_PERMISSIONS))
+      logger.newFile(COMPRESSION_CODEC_PREFIX + codec)
     }
-    logger.newFile(SPARK_VERSION_PREFIX + SparkContext.SPARK_VERSION,
-      Some(LOG_FILE_PERMISSIONS))
-    logger.newFile(LOG_PREFIX + logger.fileIndex, Some(LOG_FILE_PERMISSIONS))
+    logger.newFile(SPARK_VERSION_PREFIX + SparkContext.SPARK_VERSION)
+    logger.newFile(LOG_PREFIX + logger.fileIndex)
   }
 
   /** Log the event as JSON. */
@@ -118,7 +115,7 @@ private[spark] class EventLoggingListener(
    * In addition, create an empty special file to indicate application completion.
    */
   def stop() = {
-    logger.newFile(APPLICATION_COMPLETE, Some(LOG_FILE_PERMISSIONS))
+    logger.newFile(APPLICATION_COMPLETE)
     logger.stop()
   }
 }
@@ -128,6 +125,9 @@ private[spark] object EventLoggingListener extends Logging {
   val SPARK_VERSION_PREFIX = "SPARK_VERSION_"
   val COMPRESSION_CODEC_PREFIX = "COMPRESSION_CODEC_"
   val APPLICATION_COMPLETE = "APPLICATION_COMPLETE"
+  val LOG_FILE_PERMISSIONS: FsPermission =
+    FsPermission.createImmutable(Integer.parseInt("770", 8).toShort)
+
 
   // A cache for compression codecs to avoid creating the same codec many times
   private val codecMap = new mutable.HashMap[String, CompressionCodec]
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/FileLogger.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/FileLogger.scala
index f33017e298d87..581c03f1332d3 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/FileLogger.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/FileLogger.scala
@@ -83,14 +83,16 @@ private[spark] class FileLogger(
     }
     if (dirPermissions.isDefined) {
       val fsStatus = fileSystem.getFileStatus(path)
-      if (fsStatus.getPermission().toShort() != dirPermissions.get.toShort()) {
-        fileSystem.setPermission(path, dirPermissions.get);
+      if (fsStatus.getPermission().toShort() != dirPermissions.get.toShort) {
+        fileSystem.setPermission(path, dirPermissions.get)
       }
     }
   }
 
   /**
    * Create a new writer for the file identified by the given path.
+   * If the permissions are not passed in, it will default to use the permissions
+   * (dirpermissions) used when class was instantiated.
    */
   private def createWriter(fileName: String, perms: Option[FsPermission] = None): PrintWriter = {
     val logPath = logDir + "/" + fileName
@@ -110,7 +112,7 @@ private[spark] class FileLogger(
         hadoopDataStream.get
       }
 
-    perms.foreach {p => fileSystem.setPermission(path, p)}
+    perms.orElse(dirPermissions).foreach {p => fileSystem.setPermission(path, p)}
     val bstream = new BufferedOutputStream(dstream, outputBufferSize)
     val cstream = if (compress) compressionCodec.compressedOutputStream(bstream) else bstream
     new PrintWriter(cstream)