The article is devoted to the comparative analysis of the employment contract under the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Kazakhstan. The issues of the conceptual apparatus of the institute of the employment contract, the content of the employment contract, the invalidity of the employment contract are considered. The similarities and differences in the approaches of legislators to restricting the freedom of an employment contract are shown. It is concluded that there are opposite trends in the regulation of the content of the employment contract: on the one hand, it is the expansion of contractual freedom, and on the other – the typification of the terms of the employment contract.