diff --git a/src/main/java/htsjdk/variant/vcf/VCFFilterHeaderLine.java b/src/main/java/htsjdk/variant/vcf/VCFFilterHeaderLine.java
index 6c7186535..5130963ac 100644
--- a/src/main/java/htsjdk/variant/vcf/VCFFilterHeaderLine.java
+++ b/src/main/java/htsjdk/variant/vcf/VCFFilterHeaderLine.java
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@
  * A class representing a key=value entry for FILTER fields in the VCF header
  */
 public class VCFFilterHeaderLine extends VCFSimpleHeaderLine  {
+    
+    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
 
     /**
      * create a VCF filter header line
@@ -40,7 +42,7 @@
      * @param name         the name for this header line
      * @param description  the description for this header line
      */
-    public VCFFilterHeaderLine(String name, String description) {
+    public VCFFilterHeaderLine(final String name, final String description) {
         super("FILTER", name, description);
     }
 
@@ -48,7 +50,7 @@ public VCFFilterHeaderLine(String name, String description) {
      * Convenience constructor for FILTER whose description is the name
      * @param name
      */
-    public VCFFilterHeaderLine(String name) {
+    public VCFFilterHeaderLine(final String name) {
         super("FILTER", name, name);
     }
 
@@ -58,7 +60,7 @@ public VCFFilterHeaderLine(String name) {
      * @param line      the header line
      * @param version   the vcf header version
      */
-    public VCFFilterHeaderLine(String line, VCFHeaderVersion version) {
+    public VCFFilterHeaderLine(final String line, final VCFHeaderVersion version) {
         super(line, version, "FILTER", Arrays.asList("ID", "Description"));
     }
 
@@ -66,4 +68,12 @@ public VCFFilterHeaderLine(String line, VCFHeaderVersion version) {
     public boolean shouldBeAddedToDictionary() {
         return true;
     }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+    
+    /**
+     * get the "Description" field
+     * @return the "Description" field
+     */
+    public String getDescription() {
+        return getGenericFieldValue("Description");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/htsjdk/variant/vcf/VCFHeaderUnitTest.java b/src/test/java/htsjdk/variant/vcf/VCFHeaderUnitTest.java
index af875fcdc..e9135cc72 100644
--- a/src/test/java/htsjdk/variant/vcf/VCFHeaderUnitTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/htsjdk/variant/vcf/VCFHeaderUnitTest.java
@@ -196,7 +196,9 @@ public void testVCFHeaderAddFormatLine() {
     @Test
     public void testVCFHeaderAddFilterLine() {
         final VCFHeader header = getHiSeqVCFHeader();
-        final VCFFilterHeaderLine filterLine = new VCFFilterHeaderLine("TestFilterLine");
+        final String filterDesc = "TestFilterLine Description";
+        final VCFFilterHeaderLine filterLine = new VCFFilterHeaderLine("TestFilterLine",filterDesc);
+        Assert.assertEquals(filterDesc,filterLine.getDescription());
         header.addMetaDataLine(filterLine);
 
         Assert.assertTrue(header.getFilterLines().contains(filterLine), "TestFilterLine not found in filter header lines");