Comparative study of the recognition of the invalidity of an employment agreement and its terms in Vietnam and Canada

The author has found that employment agreements and their terms in Vietnam and Canada can be declared invalid both in whole and in part. Thus, an employment agreement is completely invalid in one of the following cases: (1) the entire content of the employment agreement violates the law, i.e. all provisions of the employment agreement do not comply with the legislation; (2) the person concluding the employment agreement is incompetent or violates the principles of concluding an employment agreement; (3) the work specified in the employment agreement is work prohibited by law; (4) the terms of the employment agreement concluded after the fact significantly change the main terms of the employment offer letter (for example, changes the offer from an indefinite-term agreement to a fixed-term contract, changes the previously offered notice of termination to the statutory minimum, or adds restrictive terms (for example, non-compete); (5) the employee entered into an indefinite-term agreement and then entered into a fixed-term contract; (6) there is ambiguity in the content of the agreement; (6) the content of the agreement does not meet minimum labor standards; (7) the employer will change the existing employment agreement in such a way as to cancel/restrict an existing contractual or general right of the employee (such as benefits, vacation time, or notice of termination). The employment agreement is partially invalid in the part whose content violates the law but does not affect the rest of the contract. The author has discovered that only a court has the right to declare an employment agreement invalid in Vietnam and Canada. If an employment agreement is partially invalid, the employer and the employee are obliged to make amendments and additions to the part of the invalid employment agreement. If an employment agreement is fully invalid due to incompetence or violation of the principles of concluding an employment agreement by the person signing it, the employer and the employee are obliged to re-conclude the employment contract in accordance with the law. If an employment agreement is fully invalid due to the fact that the entire content of the employment agreement contradicts the law or the work provided for by the employment agreement is the work prohibited by law, the employer and the employee must conclude a new employment agreement in accordance with the law.