diff --git a/packages/tpetra/core/src/kokkos_refactor/Tpetra_KokkosRefactor_Details_MultiVectorDistObjectKernels.hpp b/packages/tpetra/core/src/kokkos_refactor/Tpetra_KokkosRefactor_Details_MultiVectorDistObjectKernels.hpp
index b27678ff3b13..d947a2364648 100644
--- a/packages/tpetra/core/src/kokkos_refactor/Tpetra_KokkosRefactor_Details_MultiVectorDistObjectKernels.hpp
+++ b/packages/tpetra/core/src/kokkos_refactor/Tpetra_KokkosRefactor_Details_MultiVectorDistObjectKernels.hpp
@@ -787,23 +787,35 @@ outOfBounds (const IntegerType x, const IntegerType exclusiveUpperBound)
 
   struct AbsMaxOp {
     template <class Scalar>
-    struct WrapScalarAndCompareAbsMax{
+    struct AbsMaxHelper{
       Scalar value;
-    private:
-      friend KOKKOS_FUNCTION bool operator<(WrapScalarAndCompareAbsMax const& lhs, WrapScalarAndCompareAbsMax const& rhs) { return Kokkos::ArithTraits<Scalar>::abs(lhs.value) < Kokkos::ArithTraits<Scalar>::abs(rhs.value); }
-      friend KOKKOS_FUNCTION bool operator>(WrapScalarAndCompareAbsMax const& lhs, WrapScalarAndCompareAbsMax const& rhs) { return Kokkos::ArithTraits<Scalar>::abs(lhs.value) > Kokkos::ArithTraits<Scalar>::abs(rhs.value); }
+
+      KOKKOS_FUNCTION AbsMaxHelper& operator+=(AbsMaxHelper const& rhs) {
+        auto lhs_abs_value = Kokkos::ArithTraits<Scalar>::abs(value);
+        auto rhs_abs_value = Kokkos::ArithTraits<Scalar>::abs(rhs.value);
+        value = lhs_abs_value > rhs_abs_value ? lhs_abs_value : rhs_abs_value;
+        return *this;
+      }
+
+      KOKKOS_FUNCTION AbsMaxHelper operator+(AbsMaxHelper const& rhs) const {
+        AbsMaxHelper ret = *this;
+        ret += rhs;
+        return ret;
+      }
     };
 
     template <typename SC>
     KOKKOS_INLINE_FUNCTION
     void operator() (atomic_tag, SC& dst, const SC& src) const {
-      Kokkos::atomic_max(reinterpret_cast<WrapScalarAndCompareAbsMax<SC>*>(&dst), WrapScalarAndCompareAbsMax<SC>{src});
+      Kokkos::atomic_add(reinterpret_cast<AbsMaxHelper<SC>*>(&dst), AbsMaxHelper<SC>{src});
     }
 
     template <typename SC>
     KOKKOS_INLINE_FUNCTION
     void operator() (nonatomic_tag, SC& dst, const SC& src) const {
-      if (Kokkos::ArithTraits<SC>::abs(dst) < Kokkos::ArithTraits<SC>::abs(src)) dst = src;
+      auto dst_abs_value = Kokkos::ArithTraits<SC>::abs(dst);
+      auto src_abs_value = Kokkos::ArithTraits<SC>::abs(src);
+      dst = dst_abs_value > src_abs_value ? dst_abs_value : src_abs_value;
     }
   };