work to rule
n.— «Teachers are now following the existing contract to the letter, a practice called “work to rule.” Teachers begin and end the work day specified in the contract and no earlier or later.» —“Westborough teacher contract talks heat up” by John Fenuccio MetroWest Daily News (Framingham, Massachusetts) Apr. 23, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d been able...
This has been used, in England at least, for decades — at least since the 1950s when I first heard it, and I suspect much earlier. The derivation is from the union rule book.
I haven’t looked up any references yet, but I am sure they will be easy to find.