How to Complete and Submit the Record of Employment (ROE) Form

To complete and submit the Record of Employment (ROE) form, fill out the 19 blocks with the employee’s identification, employment dates, insurable hours and earnings, and a single-letter reason-for-separation code, then file it with Service Canada through the ROE Web portal (or on paper) within the deadline tied to your pay period. The ROE is the document Service Canada uses to decide whether a former or absent worker qualifies for Employment Insurance, how much they’ll receive each week, and how long payments will last.¹ The obligation to issue it is yours as the employer, and it applies whether or not the worker plans to claim EI.

When You Have to Issue an ROE

The trigger is an “interruption of earnings.” If an employee has, or is expected to have, seven consecutive calendar days with no work and no insurable earnings from you, that’s an interruption and an ROE is required.² This is the 7-day rule. It covers layoffs, terminations, and resignations, and it also covers leaves of absence, maternity and parental leave, illness, or any other gap that reaches seven days without pay.

You issue the ROE even if the employee says they won’t apply for EI. The duty sits with the employer, not the worker.

Register for ROE Web Before You Need It

Most employers file through ROE Web, Service Canada’s secure online portal. Registration takes several steps and some waiting for identity checks, so don’t start the day someone quits.

Sign in to ROE Web with a GCKey or Sign-In Partner credential.
Create your professional profile with your name and contact details. The system assigns a user reference number.
Set up your organization’s profile using your Canada Revenue Agency business number.
Validate your identity through CRA My Account. If you aren’t already registered there, that process alone can take 5 to 10 business days. You can also validate in person at a Service Canada Centre with two pieces of identification.
Enter the authorization code Service Canada mails to the business owner or chief executive. It confirms your authority to act as Primary Officer.
Accept the terms and conditions.

You must activate the account within 90 days of receiving the authorization code, or it expires and you’ll have to call the Employer Contact Centre for a new one.³

Filling In the 19 Blocks

The ROE has 19 blocks. The identification fields at the top are routine, but the date fields, the insurable hours and earnings, and the separation code drive the EI decision. That’s where accuracy matters most.

Identification and Dates

The opening blocks capture the employee’s Social Insurance Number, full legal name, and your payroll account number. Block 10 records the first day the employee worked for you. Block 11 records the last day for which the employee was paid — not necessarily the last day they physically worked. If the final shift was Friday but you paid them through the following Wednesday for accrued time, Block 11 is Wednesday.² Block 12 is the final pay period ending date. These dates feed the benefit calculation directly, so errors here delay or reduce payments.

Insurable Hours (Block 15A)

Insurable hours are every hour the employee worked for which they received insurable earnings, including overtime, paid statutory holidays falling before the Block 11 date, and vacation time taken during employment.² Work backward from the most recent pay period. The lookback depends on how often you pay:

Weekly: up to 53 pay periods
Biweekly: up to 27
Semi-monthly: up to 25
Monthly: up to 13

For salaried employees whose hours aren’t tracked, use the hours in their employment contract. If the contract doesn’t specify and you can’t reach an agreement with the employee, divide the insurable earnings by the provincial or territorial minimum wage in effect on January 1 of the year the earnings were payable. The result can’t exceed 7 hours per day or 35 hours per week.²

Insurable Earnings (Blocks 15B and 15C)

Block 15B is the employee’s total insurable earnings — all compensation on which EI premiums were paid. Block 15C breaks those earnings down by pay period. The lookback is shorter than for hours:

Weekly: up to 27 pay periods
Biweekly: up to 14
Semi-monthly: up to 13
Monthly: up to 7

Report all insurable earnings received during those periods, not just amounts up to the EI maximum insurable earnings ceiling.² Service Canada uses this data to set the weekly benefit rate.

Reason for Separation (Block 16)

A single letter tells Service Canada why the employee stopped working. The wrong code can delay benefits or trigger an investigation. The codes:

Code A — Shortage of work: layoffs, end of contract, seasonal shutdown, or any case where the employer has no work.
Code B — Strike or lockout.
Code D — Illness or injury: temporary leave for a health issue.
Code E — Quit: the employee chose to leave, whether for another job, school, relocation, voluntary retirement, or personal reasons.
Code F — Maternity: only for a person who is pregnant or has recently given birth. Not for adoptive parents or the other parent.
Code G — Mandatory retirement, or retirement through a Work Force Reduction program approved by Service Canada.
Code H — Work-Sharing: the employee is participating in Service Canada’s Work-Sharing Program.
Code J — Apprentice training: temporary leave for a government-approved apprenticeship program.
Code M — Dismissal or suspension: employment ended for any reason other than layoff or mandatory retirement. Also used for suspensions.
Code N — Leave of absence: temporary unpaid leave that doesn’t fit another category.
Code P — Parental: parental or adoption leave.
Code Z — Compassionate care or family caregiver.
Code K — Other: use only when nothing else fits, and explain in Block 18.

Codes E and M usually prompt additional review by Service Canada. If you use Code M, add context in Block 18 to reduce back-and-forth.

Other Monies (Block 17) and Comments (Block 18)

Block 17 captures payments that aren’t regular wages: vacation pay owed but not yet paid, severance, termination pay, retiring allowances, and similar amounts. Leaving these out is one of the most common ROE mistakes and can cause overpayments that the employee later has to repay. Block 18 is a free-text field for anything that clarifies the situation, and it matters most when you’ve used Code M or Code K.

Filing Deadlines

Deadlines depend on the filing method and your pay period.

Electronic ROEs for weekly, biweekly, or semi-monthly pay periods must be submitted within five calendar days after the end of the pay period in which the interruption occurred.² For monthly pay periods, the deadline is whichever comes first: five calendar days after the pay period ends, or 15 calendar days after the first day of the interruption.

Paper ROEs must be issued within five calendar days of the first day of the interruption, or within five calendar days of the day you became aware of the interruption, whichever is later.

Missing the deadline can bring penalties of up to $2,000 per violation.² Repeated late filing draws additional scrutiny from federal auditors.

Submitting the Completed ROE

Through ROE Web

Once you complete the ROE in the portal, the system generates a confirmation screen. That digital receipt is your proof of filing. ROE Web stores submissions for 11 years, and you can view, amend, and print any ROE during that period.¹ When you file electronically, you don’t need to give the employee a paper copy; they can access their ROE through My Service Canada Account.

High-volume employers can use the ROE Web Payroll Extract feature to upload ROEs as XML files pulled from a payroll system, transferring up to 10 files at once.⁴ Many commercial payroll platforms integrate with ROE Web directly. The portal itself accepts up to 1,200 individual ROEs in a single session.¹

On Paper

The paper form has three parts. Give Part 1 to the employee (they’ll need it to apply for EI), mail Part 2 to Service Canada at the regional processing centre printed on the form, and keep Part 3 in your files for six years.²

To order blank paper forms, call the Employer Contact Centre. Service Canada no longer accepts orders by fax or mail. Have your 15-character Payroll Account Number ready, along with your business name, address, and phone number.¹

Fixing a Mistake After Filing

For electronic ROEs, search for the original in ROE Web, make your changes, and resubmit. The system assigns a new serial number and marks it as an amendment.¹ For paper ROEs, fill out a new form, write “Amended” clearly on it, and mail it to Service Canada. Uncorrected mistakes delay the employee’s benefit payments and can prompt a compliance review of your business.

Keeping the Records

Paper filers must keep Part 3 for at least six years. Service Canada retains all ROEs — electronic and paper — for 11 years, and ROE Web lets you view and reprint your electronic ROEs for that full period.¹ That makes the portal a useful backup when your own payroll records don’t reach that far back.

1
Government of Canada. Record of Employment
2
Canada.ca. Employers: How to Complete the Record of Employment (ROE) Form
3
Canada.ca. Steps to Register for Record of Employment on the Web (ROE Web)
4
Canada.ca. ROE Web Payroll Extract Guide