Record of Employment (ROE)

Definition

A Record of Employment (ROE) records insurable work and earnings for Service Canada. Employers generally issue one when an employee has an interruption of earnings, even if the employee does not intend to claim EI, and when Service Canada requests it. The rules and block-by-block instructions are in Service Canada's ROE guide.

An interruption commonly means seven consecutive calendar days without work and insurable earnings, including an anticipated interruption. Certain sickness and family-leave situations use the test of earnings falling below 60% of regular weekly earnings. Special rules cover casual workers, non-standard work schedules and other situations; seven days away is not always an interruption.

Filing deadlines

Use ROE Web or an authorized payroll provider's electronic transmission. An electronic ROE is available to the employee through My Service Canada Account; a paper copy is not required. Paper ROEs have separate employee, Service Canada and employer copies.

Earnings and hours are different totals

Do not cap ROE earnings at the annual EI premium maximum or invent a per-pay-period maximum. Report the actual insurable earnings required by the guide, even after annual premium deductions have stopped. Also do not use one reporting window for every block.

Use fewer periods when the employment history is shorter, and include nil periods where required. Pay-period allocations for vacation pay, bonuses and separation amounts require the guide's specific rules. Block 15B therefore need not equal the sum of all electronic Block 15C fields.

Example

An employee on a semimonthly payroll is laid off for lack of work on June 26, 2026; that is the last day paid. The pay period ends June 30. The employer submits the electronic ROE on July 2, within the five-day deadline.

• Block 11 records June 26; Block 12 records June 30.
• Code A describes a shortage-of-work layoff.
• Block 15A uses up to the latest 25 consecutive semimonthly pay periods of insurable hours; Block 15B uses up to 13 periods of insurable earnings.
• Electronic Block 15C supplies up to 25 periods of earnings, including any required nil periods, without imposing an annual EI-premium cap.

Use the true reason for separation. A reason code does not by itself determine whether Service Canada awards benefits. Retain the underlying payroll records for six years after the year concerned.

Common mistakes

• Waiting for the employee to request an ROE when an automatic obligation applies.
• Applying the weekly deadline to a monthly payroll without checking the earlier fifteen-day limit.
• Using 53 biweekly periods or capping earnings at the premium ceiling.
• Ignoring separate allocation rules for vacation pay or other separation payments.
• Issuing an ROE for non-insurable employment without checking the rules. A shareholder controlling more than 40% of the employer's voting shares is generally outside insurable employment; seek a CRA ruling when uncertain.

Related concepts

• EI Premiums
• Payroll Account (RP)
• T4 Slips