High temperatures in Wuhan and Huaian in central China have become an excuse for local governments to shorten civil servants' working hours from eight to six. The governments do not have a legal basis to do so, said an article in Southern Metropolis Daily (excerpts below).

People are concerned how the government can ensure its working time changes will not affect its work. Civil servants can return home earlier on hot days, but society's demands for government services will not change as the weather changes.

Most local government offices are equipped with air-conditioners and civil servants receive a "high temperature subsidy". Many migrant workers who toil in the open do not have any subsidy at all.

The government, as rule makers, should not make an arbitrary decision to "protect civil servants from the high temperature", while ignoring that many laborers' legal interests are not guaranteed on hot days.