A Record of Employment (ROE) must be completed by an employer when a worker suffers a break in insurable earnings (from which EI payments are deducted) for seven consecutive days. Reasons for the break in earnings can include being laid off, dismissal, illness or when the worker resigns. The ROE must be submitted to Service Canada for the Employment Insurance (EI) program whether or not the worker intends to apply for EI.
There are also special situations when ROEs must be issued. These can include a change in pay period, (even though the employees are not experiencing an interruption of earnings) or a change in ownership, unless there has been no actual break in employees’ earnings during the change-over, and the new employer agrees to issue a single ROE that covers both periods of employment should it be required in the future. A more comprehensive list of situations when a ROE must be issued can be found on ROE Guide on the Service Canada website.
There are two ways in which an employer can submit a ROE to Service Canada, each of which has it's own filing deadline.
ROE in Paper Form - Part 1 of this must be given to the employee. Part 2 must be sent to Service Canada within 5 calendar days of the first day of the interruption of earnings. The employer must retain Part 3 as well as the employee's payroll records for six years after the ROE is issued.
ROE Submitted Electronically - the information is transmitted directly to the Service Canada database where it is used to process EI claims. In this case the ROE must be issued five calendar days after the biweekly period, five calendar days after the end of a monthly pay period, or fifteen days after the first day of the interruption of earnings.
Should the ROE be incorrect, or it needs to be updated the employer can submit the amended ROE either in a paper copy or electronically.
Employers should refer to Service Canada’s website for more information.
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