Export as SVG, preserve empty layers?

Hi,

I open an svg file in illustrator, it has a few empty group elements in it, like this:

<svg>

  <g id="emptyGroup"></g>

  ...

</svg>

That empty group appears as a layer after opening the document in illustrator. However when I export as svg, Illustrator removes the layer.

Is there a way to have Illustrator *not* remove these empty layers during export?

Thanks