diff --git a/lib/whenever/job_list.rb b/lib/whenever/job_list.rb
index be208048..45d83d18 100644
--- a/lib/whenever/job_list.rb
+++ b/lib/whenever/job_list.rb
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ def pre_set(variable_string = nil)
       pairs = variable_string.split('&')
       pairs.each do |pair|
         next unless pair.index('=')
-        variable, value = *pair.split('=')
+        variable, value = *pair.split('=', 2)
         unless variable.nil? || variable == "" || value.nil? || value == ""
           variable = variable.strip.to_sym
           set(variable, value.strip)
diff --git a/test/functional/command_line_test.rb b/test/functional/command_line_test.rb
index 228d4e0d..3e42b13d 100644
--- a/test/functional/command_line_test.rb
+++ b/test/functional/command_line_test.rb
@@ -329,3 +329,19 @@ class PreparingOutputTest < Whenever::TestCase
     assert_equal existing, @command.send(:prepare, existing)
   end
 end
+
+class PreservingEqualsInSetValuesTest < Whenever::TestCase
+  setup do
+    @output = Whenever.cron :set => 'password=ABC=123&user=admin', :string => \
+    <<-file
+      job_type :my_job, 'USER=:user PASSWORD=:password'
+      every 2.hours do
+        my_job 'foobar'
+      end
+    file
+  end
+
+  should "preserve any equals signs that occur in set values" do
+    assert_match "USER=admin PASSWORD=ABC=123", @output
+  end
+end