In daily life, changes related to important matters are generally written down in black and white, but in practice, the operating conditions of some companies will change with multiple factors, and the company needs to adjust the work content of employees. So, is it valid for the company and the employee to change the content of the labor contract?
According to Article 35 of the Labor Contract Law, the employer and the employee may change the content of the labor contract if they reach a consensus through consultation. Changes to the content of the labor contract shall be in written form. However, oral changes to the content of the employment contract are not absolutely invalid. According to Article 43 of the Interpretation (I) of the Supreme People's Court on Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Labor Dispute Cases, if the employer and the employee agree to modify the labor contract through consultation, although it is not in written form, but the labor contract has been orally modified for more than one month, and the content of the amended labor contract does not violate laws, administrative regulations, and public order and good customs, the people's court will not support the party's claim that the modification of the labor contract is invalid on the ground that the labor contract has not been changed in written form. The following three conditions must be met for the oral modification of the labor contract to be valid: 1. The oral modification of the labor contract has been actually performed; 2. The actual performance period is more than one month; 3. The content of the labor contract that is orally changed does not violate laws, administrative regulations, and public order and good customs.
To sum up, oral modification of an employment contract cannot directly negate its validity. If there is a need to change the employment contract between the enterprise and the employee, in principle, the employment contract should be changed in writing, but in special circumstances, the validity of the modification cannot be completely denied for oral modification of the employment contract that meets the requirements.