work to rule

work to rule
   British (as an employee)
   to behave at work in a way calculated to obstruct and cause loss
   Trade union jargon for a device which, if successful, allows an employee to be paid while damaging the employer's business by purporting to be following strictly an actual or fictional rule book. Less often as a noun:
    Within months, he was asking me whether we ought not to be writing more about a work-to-rule on the Circle Line of the Underground. (Cole, 1995)
   See also go slow and slowdown1.

How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms. . 2014.

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  • Work-to-rule — is an industrial action in which employees do no more than the minimum required by the rules of a workplace, and follow safety or other regulations to the letter in order to cause a slowdown rather than to serve their purpose. This is considered… …   Wikipedia

  • work-to-rule — ˌwork to ˈrule , ˌwork to ˈcontract noun [singular] HUMAN RESOURCES an occasion when people protest about a situation at work by doing their job less quickly or effectively, but without breaking their employer s rules or the terms of their… …   Financial and business terms

  • work product rule — n. A rule protecting work product from discovery. The Essential Law Dictionary. Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2008. work product rule A legal doctrine that provides tha …   Law dictionary

  • work-to-rule — n [singular] a situation in which people in a particular job refuse to do any additional work as a protest →↑strike →work to rule at ↑work1 (32) …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • work–to–rule — n: the practice of working to the strictest interpretation of the rules as a job action Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 …   Law dictionary

  • work-to-rule — noun singular a situation in which workers protest by doing only the exact work that their contract says they must do …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • work to rule — ► work to rule chiefly Brit. follow official working rules and hours exactly in order to reduce output and efficiency, as a form of industrial action. Main Entry: ↑work …   English terms dictionary

  • work to rule — Employees performing their duties strictly to the letter of their contract (that is, refusing to take on any additional duties), the aim being to slow down production or otherwise disrupt the employer s business. Practical Law Dictionary.… …   Law dictionary

  • work-to-rule — Employees performing their duties strictly to the letter of their contract (that is, refusing to take on any additional duties), the aim being to slow down production or otherwise disrupt the employer s business. Practical Law Dictionary.… …   Law dictionary

  • work to rule — noun a job action in which workers cause a slowdown by doing only the minimum amount required by the rules of the workplace • Hypernyms: ↑job action * * * work to rule (of workers) to observe all the regulations scrupulously for the express… …   Useful english dictionary

  • work-to-rule — ¦ ̷ ̷  ̷ ̷ ˈ ̷ ̷ noun chiefly Britain : the practice of working according to the strictest interpretation of the rules so as to slow down production and force employers to comply with demands • work to rule intransitive verb, chiefly Britain * *… …   Useful english dictionary

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