diff --git a/lint/src/rules/html/themed-component-usages.ts b/lint/src/rules/html/themed-component-usages.ts
index 6184805a2b..160d93326b 100644
--- a/lint/src/rules/html/themed-component-usages.ts
+++ b/lint/src/rules/html/themed-component-usages.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,11 @@ export default {
     }
   },
   create(context: any) {
+    if (context.getFilename().includes('.spec.ts')) {
+      // skip inline templates in unit tests
+      return {};
+    }
+
     return {
       [`Element$1[name = /^${DISALLOWED_THEME_SELECTORS}/]`](node: any) {
         context.report({
diff --git a/lint/test/rules/themed-component-usages.spec.ts b/lint/test/rules/themed-component-usages.spec.ts
index 2f5dbcec20..4ab3588ef6 100644
--- a/lint/test/rules/themed-component-usages.spec.ts
+++ b/lint/test/rules/themed-component-usages.spec.ts
@@ -137,6 +137,36 @@ describe('themed-component-usages (HTML)', () => {
 <ds-test-themeable [test]="something"></ds-test-themeable>
         `,
       },
+      {
+        name: fixture('src/test.ts'),
+        code: `
+@Component({
+  template: '<ds-test-themeable></ds-test-themeable>'
+})
+class Test {
+}
+        `,
+      },
+      {
+        name: fixture('src/test.spec.ts'),
+        code: `
+@Component({
+  template: '<ds-test-themeable></ds-test-themeable>'
+})
+class Test {
+}
+        `,
+      },
+      {
+        filename: fixture('src/test.spec.ts'),
+        code: `
+@Component({
+  template: '<ds-base-test-themeable></ds-base-test-themeable>'
+})
+class Test {
+}
+        `,
+      },
     ],
     invalid: [
       {