diff --git a/pandas/tests/reshape/test_pivot.py b/pandas/tests/reshape/test_pivot.py
index 3ec60d50f2792..e7a9f5551b2df 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/reshape/test_pivot.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/reshape/test_pivot.py
@@ -142,6 +142,30 @@ def test_pivot_table_dropna_categoricals(self, dropna):
 
         tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
 
+    def test_pivot_with_non_observable_dropna_civ(self, dropna):
+        # gh-21370
+        arr = [np.nan, 'low', 'high', 'low', np.nan]
+        df = pd.DataFrame({
+            "In": pd.Categorical(arr,
+                                 categories=['low', 'high'],
+                                 ordered=True),
+            "Col": ["A", "B", "C", "A", "B"],
+            "Val": range(1, 6)
+        })
+        result = df.pivot_table(index="In", columns="Col", values="Val",
+                                dropna=dropna)
+        expected = pd.DataFrame({
+            'A': [4.0, np.nan],
+            'B': [2.0, np.nan],
+            'C': [np.nan, 3.0]},
+            index=pd.Index(
+                pd.Categorical.from_codes(
+                    [0, 1],
+                    categories=['low', 'high'],
+                    ordered=True),
+                name='In'))
+        tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
+
     def test_pivot_with_non_observable_dropna(self, dropna):
         # gh-21133
         df = pd.DataFrame(