When you’re starting to drown between employee concerns, payroll duties and helping your CEO -- HR Insider is there to help get the logistical work out of the way.
Employees CANNOT unilaterally change the terms of their employment agreement–and neither can employers. To be binding, contractual changes must be mutually agreed to as exhibited by a signature depending on the amendment procedures set forth in the original contract. In theory, you can also waive contractual rights without a writing through your actions, e.g., telling the employee you accept the reduced notice. But it sounds like you haven’t done that. So, if the reduced notice is important to the employee, you might want to sit down and negotiate a change. Of course, once you reopen the contract, literally everything is on the table and you can negotiate for changes that are favorable to you in exchange for conceding on the notice. Hope that helps. Glenn