diff --git a/internal/rdb/rdb.go b/internal/rdb/rdb.go
index f6c63ff..6848da9 100644
--- a/internal/rdb/rdb.go
+++ b/internal/rdb/rdb.go
@@ -103,25 +103,25 @@ func (r *RDB) EnqueueUnique(msg *base.TaskMessage, ttl time.Duration) error {
 }
 
 // Dequeue queries given queues in order and pops a task message
-// off a queue if one exists and returns the message and deadline in Unix time in seconds.
+// off a queue if one exists and returns the message and deadline.
 // Dequeue skips a queue if the queue is paused.
 // If all queues are empty, ErrNoProcessableTask error is returned.
-func (r *RDB) Dequeue(qnames ...string) (msg *base.TaskMessage, deadline int, err error) {
+func (r *RDB) Dequeue(qnames ...string) (msg *base.TaskMessage, deadline time.Time, err error) {
 	var qkeys []interface{}
 	for _, q := range qnames {
 		qkeys = append(qkeys, base.QueueKey(q))
 	}
-	data, deadline, err := r.dequeue(qkeys...)
+	data, d, err := r.dequeue(qkeys...)
 	if err == redis.Nil {
-		return nil, 0, ErrNoProcessableTask
+		return nil, time.Time{}, ErrNoProcessableTask
 	}
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, 0, err
+		return nil, time.Time{}, err
 	}
 	if msg, err = base.DecodeMessage(data); err != nil {
-		return nil, 0, err
+		return nil, time.Time{}, err
 	}
-	return msg, deadline, nil
+	return msg, time.Unix(d, 0), nil
 }
 
 // KEYS[1]  -> asynq:in_progress
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ for i = 2, table.getn(ARGV) do
 end
 return nil`)
 
-func (r *RDB) dequeue(qkeys ...interface{}) (msgjson string, deadline int, err error) {
+func (r *RDB) dequeue(qkeys ...interface{}) (msgjson string, deadline int64, err error) {
 	var args []interface{}
 	args = append(args, time.Now().Unix())
 	args = append(args, qkeys...)
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ func (r *RDB) dequeue(qkeys ...interface{}) (msgjson string, deadline int, err e
 	if msgjson, err = cast.ToStringE(data[0]); err != nil {
 		return "", 0, err
 	}
-	if deadline, err = cast.ToIntE(data[1]); err != nil {
+	if deadline, err = cast.ToInt64E(data[1]); err != nil {
 		return "", 0, err
 	}
 	return msgjson, deadline, nil
diff --git a/internal/rdb/rdb_test.go b/internal/rdb/rdb_test.go
index e298785..34930e8 100644
--- a/internal/rdb/rdb_test.go
+++ b/internal/rdb/rdb_test.go
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ func TestDequeue(t *testing.T) {
 		enqueued       map[string][]*base.TaskMessage
 		args           []string // list of queues to query
 		wantMsg        *base.TaskMessage
-		wantDeadline   int
+		wantDeadline   time.Time
 		err            error
 		wantEnqueued   map[string][]*base.TaskMessage
 		wantInProgress []*base.TaskMessage
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ func TestDequeue(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			args:         []string{"default"},
 			wantMsg:      t1,
-			wantDeadline: t1Deadline,
+			wantDeadline: time.Unix(int64(t1Deadline), 0),
 			err:          nil,
 			wantEnqueued: map[string][]*base.TaskMessage{
 				"default": {},
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ func TestDequeue(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			args:         []string{"default"},
 			wantMsg:      nil,
-			wantDeadline: 0,
+			wantDeadline: time.Time{},
 			err:          ErrNoProcessableTask,
 			wantEnqueued: map[string][]*base.TaskMessage{
 				"default": {},
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ func TestDequeue(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			args:         []string{"critical", "default", "low"},
 			wantMsg:      t2,
-			wantDeadline: t2Deadline,
+			wantDeadline: time.Unix(int64(t2Deadline), 0),
 			err:          nil,
 			wantEnqueued: map[string][]*base.TaskMessage{
 				"default":  {t1},
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ func TestDequeue(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			args:         []string{"critical", "default", "low"},
 			wantMsg:      t3,
-			wantDeadline: t3Deadline,
+			wantDeadline: time.Unix(int64(t3Deadline), 0),
 			err:          nil,
 			wantEnqueued: map[string][]*base.TaskMessage{
 				"default":  {},
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ func TestDequeue(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			args:         []string{"critical", "default", "low"},
 			wantMsg:      nil,
-			wantDeadline: 0,
+			wantDeadline: time.Time{},
 			err:          ErrNoProcessableTask,
 			wantEnqueued: map[string][]*base.TaskMessage{
 				"default":  {},