diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 1c8167b..7b0fdae 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ jobs:
         - python: "3.x"
           platform: ubuntu-latest
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.platform }}
-    continue-on-error: ${{ matrix.python == '3.13' }}
+    continue-on-error: ${{ matrix.python == '3.13' || (matrix.python == '3.8' || matrix.python == '3.9') && matrix.platform == 'macos-latest' }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Setup Python
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 0217c3e..1cb9e5e 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ Homepage = "https://github.com/jaraco/inflect"
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 testing = [
 	# upstream
-	"pytest >= 6",
+	"pytest >= 6, != 8.1.*",
 	"pytest-checkdocs >= 2.4",
 	"pytest-cov",
 	"pytest-mypy",