There are only WeChat chat records and no physical contracts signed offline, leading to disputes between employees and employers over whether a written labor contract has been signed. Recently, the People's Court of Cixi City, Zhejiang Province, heard a labor dispute case. The court believed that the content of the chat records that both parties reached an agreement on contained essential elements of the labor contract, which could be regarded as a written labor contract. The court did not support the employee's request for the employer to pay double the salary after the termination of the labor relationship. During the job search process, Xu learned that a certain electrical company was recruiting, so he added the WeChat account of the company's contact person to communicate the recruitment details online. Both parties reached a consensus on the job responsibilities, vacation regulations, salary and social security of the relevant positions in the WeChat conversation, and clarified that the labor contract period is three years. In special circumstances, both parties will negotiate separately. After Xu joined the company, a certain electrical appliance company regularly paid his social security and salary according to the agreement. One year later, Xu proposed to terminate the employment relationship on the grounds that the company had not signed a written labor contract with him, and demanded that the company pay a total of 59000 yuan in salary difference in accordance with the legal requirement of paying twice the monthly salary without signing a written labor contract. There was a dispute between the two parties, and Xu applied for arbitration to the local labor dispute arbitration committee. The arbitration committee ruled that the company should pay twice the salary. The company is dissatisfied and has filed a lawsuit with the Cixi court. After the court's trial, it was found that from the perspective of written form conditions, the WeChat chat records in this case belong to electronic evidence and have the function of recording and verifying the content of the contract, which meets the characteristics of "being able to tangibly express the form of the content" and "being able to retrieve and use it at any time" required by the Civil Code for "written form"; From the essential clauses of the contract, the chat records involved in the case can prove that both parties have discussed and reached an agreement on the term, work content, work location, work hours, rest and vacation, labor remuneration, social insurance, etc. of the labor contract. The chat content has basically covered the main contents stipulated in Article 17 of the Labor Contract Law and meets the requirements of a written labor contract; From the perspective of the expression of intent requirements, although both parties did not sign, stamp, or fingerprint due to platform technology constraints, Xu agreed after receiving the information containing the main content of the labor contract sent by the company. Subsequently, both parties arranged work, provided labor, and paid remuneration in accordance with the content agreed upon in WeChat. It should be recognized that both parties' expressions of intent are true and the labor contract is established. The court ruled in the first instance that a certain electrical company does not need to pay twice the salary difference to Xu. Xu was dissatisfied and appealed to the Intermediate People's Court of Ningbo City. The Ningbo Intermediate People's Court rejected the appeal and upheld the original verdict after trial. (New Society)