diff --git a/lib/sidekiq.rb b/lib/sidekiq.rb
index 1247b2aa..7884a864 100644
--- a/lib/sidekiq.rb
+++ b/lib/sidekiq.rb
@@ -90,11 +90,11 @@ module Sidekiq
   end
 
   def self.load_json(string)
-    MultiJson.load(string)
+    MultiJson.decode(string)
   end
 
   def self.dump_json(object)
-    MultiJson.dump(object)
+    MultiJson.encode(object)
   end
 
   def self.logger
diff --git a/sidekiq.gemspec b/sidekiq.gemspec
index f730cc41..35313a2d 100644
--- a/sidekiq.gemspec
+++ b/sidekiq.gemspec
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |gem|
   gem.add_dependency                  'redis-namespace'
   gem.add_dependency                  'connection_pool', '~> 0.9.2'
   gem.add_dependency                  'celluloid', '~> 0.12.0'
-  gem.add_dependency                  'multi_json', '>= 1.3.0'
+  gem.add_dependency                  'multi_json', '~> 1'
   gem.add_development_dependency      'minitest', '~> 4'
   gem.add_development_dependency      'sinatra'
   gem.add_development_dependency      'slim'