diff --git a/src/urllib3/util/retry.py b/src/urllib3/util/retry.py
index 02429ee8e4..fe4006843f 100644
--- a/src/urllib3/util/retry.py
+++ b/src/urllib3/util/retry.py
@@ -192,7 +192,8 @@ def new(self, **kw):
             raise_on_redirect=self.raise_on_redirect,
             raise_on_status=self.raise_on_status,
             history=self.history,
-            remove_headers_on_redirect=self.remove_headers_on_redirect
+            remove_headers_on_redirect=self.remove_headers_on_redirect,
+            respect_retry_after_header=self.respect_retry_after_header
         )
         params.update(kw)
         return type(self)(**params)
@@ -274,7 +275,7 @@ def sleep(self, response=None):
         this method will return immediately.
         """
 
-        if response:
+        if self.respect_retry_after_header and response:
             slept = self.sleep_for_retry(response)
             if slept:
                 return