diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 9d5c1f85..fc0b743e 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -500,6 +500,10 @@ Workers support the following options:
 
   Redis server database number (if different from ``0``).
 
+- ``-M``, ``--max-workers-per-queue``
+
+  Maximum number of workers that are allowed to process a queue.
+
 In some cases it is convenient to have a custom TaskTiger launch script. For
 example, your application may have a ``manage.py`` command that sets up the
 environment and you may want to launch TaskTiger workers using that script. To
diff --git a/tasktiger/__init__.py b/tasktiger/__init__.py
index 05a540f5..687be025 100644
--- a/tasktiger/__init__.py
+++ b/tasktiger/__init__.py
@@ -157,11 +157,6 @@ def __init__(self, connection=None, config=None, setup_structlog=False):
             # locking techniques.
             'SINGLE_WORKER_QUEUES': [],
 
-            # The maximum number of workers that will be allowed to actively
-            # process tasks for any queue. Similar to Single Worker Queues
-            # but allows specifying any number 1 or greater.
-            'MAX_WORKERS_PER_QUEUE': None,
-
             # The following settings are only considered if no explicit queues
             # are passed in the command line (or to the queues argument in the
             # run_worker() method).
diff --git a/tasktiger/worker.py b/tasktiger/worker.py
index d108d59f..453ad100 100644
--- a/tasktiger/worker.py
+++ b/tasktiger/worker.py
@@ -73,8 +73,6 @@ def __init__(self, tiger, queues=None, exclude_queues=None,
 
         if max_workers_per_queue:
             self.max_workers_per_queue = max_workers_per_queue
-        elif self.config['MAX_WORKERS_PER_QUEUE']:
-            self.max_workers_per_queue = self.config['MAX_WORKERS_PER_QUEUE']
         else:
             self.max_workers_per_queue = None
         assert (self.max_workers_per_queue is None or
diff --git a/tests/test_workers.py b/tests/test_workers.py
index d76375eb..c61a896a 100644
--- a/tests/test_workers.py
+++ b/tests/test_workers.py
@@ -20,9 +20,6 @@ class TestMaxWorkers(BaseTestCase):
     def test_max_workers(self):
         """Test Single Worker Queue."""
 
-        config = {'MAX_WORKERS_PER_QUEUE': 2}
-        self.tiger.config.update(config)
-
         # Queue three tasks
         for i in range(0, 3):
             task = Task(self.tiger, long_task_killed, queue='a')
@@ -31,15 +28,17 @@ def test_max_workers(self):
 
         # Start two workers and wait until they start processing.
         worker1 = Process(target=external_worker,
-                          kwargs={'patch_config': config})
+                          kwargs={'max_workers_per_queue': 2})
         worker2 = Process(target=external_worker,
-                          kwargs={'patch_config': config})
+                          kwargs={'max_workers_per_queue': 2})
         worker1.start()
         worker2.start()
         time.sleep(DELAY)
 
         # This worker should fail to get the queue lock and exit immediately
-        Worker(self.tiger).run(once=True, force_once=True)
+        worker = Worker(self.tiger)
+        worker.max_workers_per_queue = 2
+        worker.run(once=True, force_once=True)
         self._ensure_queues(active={'a': 2}, queued={'a': 1})
         # Wait for external workers
         worker1.join()
@@ -98,9 +97,6 @@ def test_single_worker_queue(self):
     def test_queue_system_lock(self):
         """Test queue system lock."""
 
-        config = {'MAX_WORKERS_PER_QUEUE': 2}
-        self.tiger.config.update(config)
-
         with FreezeTime(datetime.datetime(2014, 1, 1)):
             # Queue three tasks
             for i in range(0, 3):
@@ -109,7 +105,9 @@ def test_queue_system_lock(self):
             self._ensure_queues(queued={'a': 3})
 
             # Ensure we can process one
-            Worker(self.tiger).run(once=True, force_once=True)
+            worker = Worker(self.tiger)
+            worker.max_workers_per_queue = 2
+            worker.run(once=True, force_once=True)
             self._ensure_queues(queued={'a': 2})
 
             # Set system lock so no processing should occur for 10 seconds
@@ -119,10 +117,14 @@ def test_queue_system_lock(self):
             assert lock_timeout == time.time() + 10
 
         with FreezeTime(datetime.datetime(2014, 1, 1, 0, 0, 10)):
-            Worker(self.tiger).run(once=True, force_once=True)
+            worker = Worker(self.tiger)
+            worker.max_workers_per_queue = 2
+            worker.run(once=True, force_once=True)
             self._ensure_queues(queued={'a': 2})
 
         # 11 seconds in the future the lock should have expired
         with FreezeTime(datetime.datetime(2014, 1, 1, 0, 0, 11)):
-            Worker(self.tiger).run(once=True, force_once=True)
+            worker = Worker(self.tiger)
+            worker.max_workers_per_queue = 2
+            worker.run(once=True, force_once=True)
             self._ensure_queues(queued={'a': 1})
diff --git a/tests/utils.py b/tests/utils.py
index 6b5dfe31..759310f6 100644
--- a/tests/utils.py
+++ b/tests/utils.py
@@ -61,12 +61,18 @@ def get_tiger():
     return tiger
 
 
-def external_worker(n=None, patch_config=None):
+def external_worker(n=None, patch_config=None, max_workers_per_queue=None):
     """
     Runs a worker. To be used with multiprocessing.Pool.map.
     """
     tiger = get_tiger()
+
     if patch_config:
         tiger.config.update(patch_config)
+
     worker = Worker(tiger)
+
+    if max_workers_per_queue is not None:
+        worker.max_workers_per_queue = max_workers_per_queue
+
     worker.run(once=True)