A Record of Employment (ROE) is the form you, the employer, must complete whenever an employee stops working and has an interruption of earnings, for example a layoff between jobs, a quit, a dismissal, a maternity leave or a shortage of work. Service Canada uses it to decide whether the worker qualifies for Employment Insurance (EI) and how much they get. You must issue it whether or not the worker actually plans to claim EI. Miss the deadline or fill it in wrong and you delay the worker's benefits and risk a Service Canada penalty.
When you must issue an ROE
You issue an ROE every time an employee has an interruption of earnings. In trades that happens more often than in most sectors, because work is seasonal and project-based. The common triggers are:
- A layoff at the end of a job or for a shortage of work, even if you expect to bring the worker back.
- A quit, a dismissal or the end of a fixed-term contract.
- Seven consecutive calendar days with no work and no insurable earnings (the standard "interruption of earnings" test).
- A leave: maternity, parental, sickness, or another statutory leave.
A temporary site shutdown that runs past seven days is an interruption of earnings. Issue the ROE; do not assume that calling it a "temporary layoff" excuses you.
The deadline
For electronic ROEs filed through ROE Web, you generally have until five calendar days after the end of the pay period in which the interruption of earnings occurred. Paper ROEs (now rare) run on a tighter five-day-from-the-interruption rule. Electronic filing is the norm and most payroll software submits the ROE for you. File late and the worker's EI claim stalls, which in a seasonal trade can leave a good employee without income for weeks.
How to issue it: ROE Web
The ROE is filed with Service Canada, not the Canada Revenue Agency. Most employers use ROE Web, the online portal, or have their payroll provider submit it automatically. Electronic ROEs go straight to Service Canada, so you no longer hand the worker a paper copy; they access it through their My Service Canada Account. Keep your own copy and the supporting payroll records for six years.
The fields that cause trouble
Two boxes decide everything, and both get filled in wrong constantly:
- Box 16, the reason for issuing. This is the separation code (shortage of work, quit, dismissal, illness, and so on). The code drives whether the worker can claim regular EI at all: a worker who quit without just cause is usually disqualified, while a shortage-of-work layoff qualifies. Code it honestly and accurately. A wrong code triggers a Service Canada investigation and can expose you to questions about the real reason for the separation.
- Insurable hours and earnings. You report the worker's insurable hours and insurable earnings over the relevant period. Get the hours wrong and you change whether the worker even meets the entry requirement for EI. Vacation pay, statutory holiday pay and certain other amounts have specific allocation rules; your payroll software should apply them, but check.
The self-employed angle: there is no ROE
A sole proprietor or a partner does not issue an ROE to themselves, because they are not an employee and earn no insurable employment. That is exactly why a self-employed tradesperson cannot claim regular EI. The only EI a self-employed person can reach is the special-benefits stream (sickness, maternity, parental, caregiving), and only if they have voluntarily opted in with Service Canada at least 12 months before claiming, and paid the premiums ($1.63 per $100 of net self-employment income, to a maximum of $1,123.07 in 2026; in Quebec $1.30 per $100 to a maximum of $895.70, with the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan separate). To claim, the self-employed person must show the time spent running the business has dropped by more than 40 percent and have earned at least $9,254 in self-employment income in the previous year. If you have employees, you issue ROEs for them even though none exists for you.
Common mistakes
- Treating a "temporary layoff" as no interruption. Seven days without work and earnings is an interruption. Issue the ROE.
- Filing late. The five-day clock starts at the end of the relevant pay period. A late ROE delays the worker's EI.
- Coding Box 16 to dodge a dispute. Coding a dismissal as "shortage of work" to avoid an argument is a misrepresentation and Service Canada cross-checks it.
- Getting insurable hours wrong. It can knock the worker below the entry threshold; let payroll software calculate it and verify the result.
Know someone who needs this?
Keep reading
Was this guide useful?
Didn't find what you were looking for?
Spotted something wrong or out of date? Email us at hello@kilnguides.co.uk.
In crisis? 988 Suicide Crisis Helpline (call or text 988) ·