diff --git a/rq/queue.py b/rq/queue.py
index 4296001..baac6ca 100644
--- a/rq/queue.py
+++ b/rq/queue.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import uuid
 
 from .connections import resolve_connection
 from .job import Job, Status
-from .utils import utcnow
+from .utils import import_attribute, utcnow
 
 from .exceptions import (DequeueTimeout, InvalidJobOperationError,
                          NoSuchJobError, UnpickleError)
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class Queue(object):
         return cls(name, connection=connection)
 
     def __init__(self, name='default', default_timeout=None, connection=None,
-                 async=True):
+                 async=True, job_class=None):
         self.connection = resolve_connection(connection)
         prefix = self.redis_queue_namespace_prefix
         self.name = name
@@ -63,6 +63,11 @@ class Queue(object):
         self._default_timeout = default_timeout
         self._async = async
 
+        if job_class is not None:
+            if isinstance(job_class, string_types):
+                job_class = import_attribute(job_class)
+            self.job_class = job_class
+
     @property
     def key(self):
         """Returns the Redis key for this Queue."""
diff --git a/rq/scripts/rqworker.py b/rq/scripts/rqworker.py
index 84f68f7..01850dd 100644
--- a/rq/scripts/rqworker.py
+++ b/rq/scripts/rqworker.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ def parse_args():
     parser.add_argument('--burst', '-b', action='store_true', default=False, help='Run in burst mode (quit after all work is done)')  # noqa
     parser.add_argument('--name', '-n', default=None, help='Specify a different name')
     parser.add_argument('--worker-class', '-w', action='store', default='rq.Worker', help='RQ Worker class to use')
+    parser.add_argument('--job-class', '-j', action='store', default='rq.job.Job', help='RQ Job class to use')
     parser.add_argument('--path', '-P', default='.', help='Specify the import path.')
     parser.add_argument('--results-ttl', default=None, help='Default results timeout to be used')
     parser.add_argument('--worker-ttl', default=None, help='Default worker timeout to be used')
@@ -88,7 +89,8 @@ def main():
         w = worker_class(queues,
                          name=args.name,
                          default_worker_ttl=args.worker_ttl,
-                         default_result_ttl=args.results_ttl)
+                         default_result_ttl=args.results_ttl,
+                         job_class=args.job_class)
 
         # Should we configure Sentry?
         if args.sentry_dsn:
diff --git a/rq/worker.py b/rq/worker.py
index a269620..8f13723 100644
--- a/rq/worker.py
+++ b/rq/worker.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import sys
 import time
 import traceback
 
-from rq.compat import as_text, text_type
+from rq.compat import as_text, string_types, text_type
 
 from .connections import get_current_connection
 from .exceptions import DequeueTimeout, NoQueueError
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ from .job import Job, Status
 from .logutils import setup_loghandlers
 from .queue import get_failed_queue, Queue
 from .timeouts import UnixSignalDeathPenalty
-from .utils import make_colorizer, utcformat, utcnow
+from .utils import import_attribute, make_colorizer, utcformat, utcnow
 from .version import VERSION
 
 try:
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ class Worker(object):
 
     def __init__(self, queues, name=None,
                  default_result_ttl=None, connection=None,
-                 exc_handler=None, default_worker_ttl=None):  # noqa
+                 exc_handler=None, default_worker_ttl=None, job_class=None):  # noqa
         if connection is None:
             connection = get_current_connection()
         self.connection = connection
@@ -141,6 +141,11 @@ class Worker(object):
         if exc_handler is not None:
             self.push_exc_handler(exc_handler)
 
+        if job_class is not None:
+            if isinstance(job_class, string_types):
+                job_class = import_attribute(job_class)
+            self.job_class = job_class
+
     def validate_queues(self):
         """Sanity check for the given queues."""
         if not iterable(self.queues):
diff --git a/tests/test_queue.py b/tests/test_queue.py
index 1d467a6..d368590 100644
--- a/tests/test_queue.py
+++ b/tests/test_queue.py
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ from tests.fixtures import (div_by_zero, echo, Number, say_hello,
                             some_calculation)
 
 
+class CustomJob(Job):
+    pass
+
+
 class TestQueue(RQTestCase):
     def test_create_queue(self):
         """Creating queues."""
@@ -437,3 +441,8 @@ class TestFailedQueue(RQTestCase):
         q = Queue(async=False)
         job = q.enqueue(some_calculation, args=(2, 3))
         self.assertEqual(job.return_value, 6)
+
+    def test_custom_job_class(self):
+        """Ensure custom job class assignment works as expected."""
+        q = Queue(job_class=CustomJob)
+        self.assertEqual(q.job_class, CustomJob)
diff --git a/tests/test_worker.py b/tests/test_worker.py
index 27e85bb..5609841 100644
--- a/tests/test_worker.py
+++ b/tests/test_worker.py
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ from tests.fixtures import (create_file, create_file_after_timeout, div_by_zero,
 from tests.helpers import strip_microseconds
 
 
+class CustomJob(Job):
+    pass
+
+
 class TestWorker(RQTestCase):
     def test_create_worker(self):
         """Worker creation."""
@@ -269,3 +273,9 @@ class TestWorker(RQTestCase):
             as_text(self.testconn.hget(worker.key, 'current_job'))
         )
         self.assertEqual(worker.get_current_job(), job)
+
+    def test_custom_job_class(self):
+        """Ensure Worker accepts custom job class."""
+        q = Queue()
+        worker = Worker([q], job_class=CustomJob)
+        self.assertEqual(worker.job_class, CustomJob)