The Record of Employment (ROE): A Practical Guide for Employers

When an employee stops working — quits, is laid off, goes on leave, or is let go — you have to file a Record of Employment with Service Canada. Usually within days.

The ROE is the document that decides whether your former employee can get Employment Insurance, how much they'll receive, and for how long. File it late and their claim stalls. Fill it in wrong and they may be denied benefits they're entitled to.

It's a federal form, so the rules are the same everywhere in Canada. Here's what you need to know.

What an ROE actually is

An ROE reports one employee's work history with you: how long they worked, how many insurable hours they accumulated, how much they earned in insurable earnings, and why they stopped.

Two things surprise employers most often:

You must file even if the employee isn't claiming EI. It's not optional and it isn't triggered by a request. If there's an interruption of earnings, the ROE is required.

The reason code isn't a formality. It directly affects whether your former employee qualifies for benefits. That single field is the most consequential thing on the form.

When you have to issue one

The trigger is an interruption of earnings. That happens in three situations:

1. The 7-day rule. The employee has had — or is expected to have — seven consecutive calendar days with no work and no insurable earnings from you. This covers quits, layoffs, terminations, and unpaid leaves. It's by far the most common trigger.

2. The 60% rule. The employee's salary drops below 60% of their regular weekly earnings and the reason is illness, injury, quarantine, pregnancy or maternity, parental or adoption leave, or compassionate care or family caregiver leave. Here the interruption starts on the Sunday of the week the pay drops below that line.

3. Wage-loss insurance payments begin.

You must also issue one whenever Service Canada asks for it — which commonly happens when an employee works two jobs and loses one.

When the 7-day rule doesn't apply

Four exceptions matter:

Annual shutdowns. If your business closes for a regular annual vacation period, employees take the leave under their contract or collective agreement, and they stay employed, no ROE is needed.
Non-standard schedules ("lay days"). Employees who work compressed rotations — four 24-hour shifts then ten days off, for example — don't experience an interruption during the off stretch.
Commission employees. For staff earning mainly commission, an interruption occurs only when the employment contract ends, unless they stop for one of the illness or leave reasons above.
Real estate agents. An interruption occurs only when the licence is surrendered, suspended, or revoked (same leave exceptions apply).

Part-time, casual, and on-call staff

You don't need to file every time a casual worker goes seven days without a shift. But you must file when:

the employee asks for one and an interruption has occurred
the employee is no longer on your active employment list
Service Canada requests one, or
the employee has done no work and earned nothing for 30 days

Other situations that require an ROE

Your pay period type changes — file for all employees, even though nobody's leaving.
The business changes hands — the former employer usually files for everyone. You can skip it only if there's no actual break in earnings and the new owner has access to the payroll records and agrees to issue a single combined ROE later if needed.
Salary continuance: if a departing employee stays on regular payroll for a period instead of taking a lump sum, there's no interruption until the payments stop. Don't file early — and enter the last day of the continuance in Block 11, not their last day at work.

Deadlines

The deadline depends on how you file and on your pay cycle.

How you file	Deadline
Electronic — weekly, biweekly, or semi-monthly payroll	5 calendar days after the end of the pay period containing the interruption
Electronic — monthly or 13 periods a year	The earlier of: 5 days after that pay period ends, or 15 days after the first day of the interruption
Paper — any pay cycle	5 calendar days from the first day of the interruption, or from the day you became aware of it

Example. Your payroll is biweekly, running September 6–19. An employee's last day is Tuesday, September 15. The pay period containing the interruption ends September 19. The ROE is due September 24.

Notice that electronic filing gives you more time — the clock starts at the end of the pay period rather than at the interruption itself. On the same facts, a paper ROE would have been due September 21.

Electronic or paper

ROE Web is Service Canada's online portal. You can key ROEs in manually, upload them from compatible payroll software, or have a payroll provider transmit them through Secure Automated Transfer (SAT).

If you file electronically, you don't need to give the employee a paper copy. The data goes straight to Service Canada. Tell your employees this — otherwise they may waste time chasing a copy, or mail one in unnecessarily. They can view and print their own ROEs through My Service Canada Account.

Paper ROEs are still available, but they carry more work: three copies, with Part 1 to the employee, Part 2 mailed to Service Canada's processing centre in Bathurst, New Brunswick, and Part 3 kept for your records. The employee then has to submit their copy themselves.

If you're still on paper, switching is the single easiest improvement you can make — a longer deadline and less handling.

The blocks that cause the most trouble

You don't need to memorise all 22 blocks, but a few deserve attention.

Block 10 — First day worked. If you've filed an ROE for this employee before, this is the first day they worked after that last interruption, not their original hire date.

Block 11 — Last day for which paid. This is not always their last day at work. If they received paid sick leave or vacation after their final shift, use the last day of that paid leave. Make sure the date isn't a statutory holiday.

Block 12 — Final pay period ending date. The end of the pay period containing the Block 11 date. It can never be earlier than Block 11.

Block 15A / 15B / 15C — Insurable hours and earnings. These are the most common source of errors. Note that the number of pay periods you look back over is different for hours than for earnings, and different again for paper versus electronic filing. Payroll software handles this automatically; manual calculation is where mistakes creep in.

Block 16 — Reason code. See below.

Block 17 — Separation payments. Money paid because of the separation, other than regular pay. Split three ways:

17A — Vacation pay paid out on separation. See the important note below.
17B — Statutory holiday pay for holidays falling after the Block 11 date.
17C — Other monies, including pay in lieu of notice, severance, retiring allowances, bonuses, and settlement pay.

Reason codes

Code	Use it when
A	Shortage of work / layoff — the most common code. Covers end of season, end of contract, temporary or permanent shutdown, position eliminated, restructuring, bankruptcy
B	Strike or lockout
D	Illness or injury
E	Quit — the employee initiated it: took another job, moved with a spouse, returned to school, voluntarily retired, left for health reasons
F	Maternity — for someone pregnant or who has recently given birth
G	Retirement — mandatory, or under an approved Work Force Reduction
H	Work-Sharing program
J	Apprentice training (government-approved)
M	Dismissal or suspension — employer-initiated for any reason other than layoff or mandatory retirement. Also used for termination during a probationary period
N	Leave of absence (unpaid)
P	Parental or adoption leave
Z	Compassionate care / family caregiver
K	Other — exceptional circumstances only, with an explanation in Block 18

Three notes:

Code C (return to school) is being phased out. Use Code E and select "Return to school," or Code J for apprenticeship training.
Seasonal work ends with Code A, not Code E. The season ending is a shortage of work — this matters for the many Cape Breton businesses running tourism and fishing seasons.
If two reasons apply, use the one that came first.

Your responsibilities as an employer

Issue an ROE for every interruption of earnings, whether or not the employee plans to claim EI.
Make sure it's accurate. Knowingly entering false or misleading information can bring penalties or prosecution.
Keep payroll records for six years after the year they relate to, electronic or paper.
Store paper ROEs securely — completed ROEs contain confidential information. Keep blank forms safe too.
Respond promptly to Service Canada. Under the Employment Insurance Act, Service Canada can require information about current or former employees relating to EI claims, and you're obliged to answer.

Fixing an ROE

You cannot cancel an ROE once it's been issued. If something's wrong, file an amended ROE — and complete every block, not just the ones that changed. Enter the original ROE's serial number in Block 2.

If you still have all three copies of an unsent paper ROE, you can correct it by striking through the error, writing the correction, and initialling it. Never use white-out.

Common mistakes

Not filing because the employee said they won't claim EI. The obligation doesn't depend on their plans.

Miscoding a dismissal as a layoff. Employers sometimes do this out of sympathy, hoping to help the person get EI. It's a misrepresentation, it can bring penalties, and it will contradict your own termination letter if the dismissal is ever challenged.

Confusing "last day worked" with "last day paid." Block 11 is the last day of insurable earnings, which may fall after their last shift.

Reporting vacation pay in 17A when it's paid on every cheque. If vacation pay is included with each pay or built into the hourly rate, it does not go in Block 17A. Only vacation pay triggered by the separation does. (See our guide to vacation pay and vacation time.)

Writing unnecessary comments in Block 18. This one is counterintuitive. ROEs are processed automatically — but any comment in Block 18 pulls the form out of automated processing for manual review by an officer. That slows your former employee's claim down. Only comment in genuinely exceptional circumstances, and never to restate something already on the form.

Getting the SIN wrong. A claim can't be processed without a correct Social Insurance Number. Note that SINs beginning with 9 are temporary — check whether the employee has since received a permanent one.

Handling statutory holidays incorrectly. Whether you include the hours for a holiday falling after Block 11 depends on whether the departure is final (employment isn't expected to resume — exclude the hours) or not final (they're returning after a layoff or leave — include them). The pay is always insurable either way. (See our guide to holiday pay rules.)

Filing during salary continuance. Wait until the continuance ends.

Trying to cancel instead of amending.

Missing the deadline. There's no extension, and the person waiting on EI feels it immediately.

What happens if you get it wrong

Under section 137 of the Employment Insurance Act, an offence for which no other penalty is specified carries a fine on summary conviction of between $100 and $2,000, imprisonment of up to six months, or both.

Prosecution is rare. The realistic consequences are more mundane and more common: your former employee's EI claim is delayed, Service Canada calls you for information, and courts have awarded damages against employers for ROE delays in wrongful dismissal cases.

How the ROE fits with your other obligations

Filing the ROE is one of three separate clocks that start when someone leaves. In Nova Scotia:

Obligation	Deadline
Final wages	Within 5 working days after the end of the pay period in which they were earned
Accumulated vacation pay	Within 10 days after employment ends
ROE	Per the table above — commonly 5 calendar days after the pay period ends

Notice and pay in lieu are a separate matter again — see our guide to severance and termination pay in Nova Scotia.

Sources

Payslips Consulting is a payroll company based in Sydney, Cape Breton, working with small and mid-sized businesses across Nova Scotia. ROEs are filed electronically and on deadline for our clients, with insurable hours and earnings pulled straight from payroll — you send the hours, we manage the rest. Get a quote.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. For questions about a specific ROE, contact Service Canada's Employer Contact Centre. For questions about whether particular earnings or hours are insurable, contact the Canada Revenue Agency.