We give different conditions for the invariance of closed sets with respect to differential inclusions governed by a maximal monotone operator defined on Hilbert spaces, which is subject to a Lipschitz continuous perturbation depending on the state. These sets are not necessarily weakly closed as in [3,4], while the invariance criteria are still written by using only the data of the system. So, no need to the explicit knowledge of neither the solution of this differential inclusion, nor the semi-group generated by the maximal monotone operator. These invariant/viability results are next applied to derive explicit criteria for a-Lyapunov pairs of lower semi-continuous (not necessarily weakly-lsc) functions associated to these differential inclusions. The lack of differentiability of the candidate Lyapunov functions and the consideration of general invariant sets (possibly not convex or smooth) are carried out by using techniques from nonsmooth analysis. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.