'''Work-to-rule''' is an [[industrial action]] in which [[employee]]s are entitled to do no more than the minimum required by the rules of their contract, and precisely follow all safety or other regulations, inwhich order tomay cause a slowdown or decrease in productivity, ratheras thanthey toare serveno theirlonger purposesworking during breaks or during unpaid extended hours and weekends (checking email, for instance).<ref>{{cite book | title = Images of Organization| author= Gareth Morgan |publisher = Sage Publications | location= Thousand Oaks, California USA |url = http://books.google.com/books?id=a_W8jXt4_eMC&pg=PA165&dq=work-to-rule&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Sz3iT_bPOIXK2AXVho3jCw&ved=0CEYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=work-to-rule&f=false | date = 1998 | page = 165 | isbn = 0-7619-1752-7 | accessdate = 20 June 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | title = Air Canada Hit By Work-to-Rule | newspaper = The Sun | location = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | pages = 1 - 2 | date = 9 December 1968 | url = http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uJZlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yooNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6026,3158040&dq=work-to-rule&hl=en | accessdate = 20 June 2012}}</ref> Such an action is considered less disruptive than a [[Strike action|strike]] or [[lockout (industry)|lockout]]; and just obeying the rules is less susceptible to disciplinary action. Notable examples have included nurses refusing to answer telephones, teachers refusing to work for free at night and during weekends and holidays, and police officers refusing to issue citations. Refusal to work overtime, travel on duty, or sign up to other tasks requiring employee assent are other manifestations of using work-to-rule as [[industrial action]].
It has been described as a decision to "Give the rules a meaning which no reasonable man could give them and work to that."<ref> Secretary of State v. ASLEF (No. 2) [1972] 2 All E.R. 949 at 959 (N.I.R.C.) per Sir John Donaldson. Cited in {{cite book | title = How to Do Things with Rules| author= William Twining and David Miers |publisher = Cambridge University Press|url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NHUv-wpDSRkC&pg=PA41&dq=%22Give+the+rules+a+meaning+%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=C-raUMaGBueH0AXj7oCYBw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Give%20the%20rules%20a%20meaning%20%22&f=false | date = 2010 | page = 41 | isbn = 978-0-521-19549-2 | accessdate = 26 December 2012 }} </ref>
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Sometimes work-to-rule can be considered by employers as [[malicious compliance]] as they pursue legal action against workers.
"Work-to-rule" is also known as "Italian strike".<ref>{{cite book | title = Strike Social Conflict and the First World War | editors= Leopold Haimson and Giulio Sapelli |publisher = Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Milano | location= Milan, Italy |url = http://books.google.com/books?id=MyOglANLRU0C&pg=PA543&dq=Italian+strike+as+work-to-rule&hl=en&sa=X&ei=u0PiT7L1D8f-2QXOiMTWCw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Italian%20strike%20as%20work-to-rule&f=false | date = 1992 | page = 543 | isbn = 88-07-99047-4 | accessdate = 20 June 2012 }}</ref> In [[Italy]] and other countries (e.g. [[Slovenia]] or [[Croatia]]) it is known as a "white strike" ([[Italian language|Italian:]] ''sciopero bianco'', [[Slovene language|Slovene:]] ''bela stavka'', [[Croatian language|Croatian:]] ''bijeli štrajk'').
