Canada ROE: Record of Employment Deadlines, Blocks, and Errors

In Canada, a Record of Employment is the form your employer files with Service Canada whenever your earnings are interrupted, and it’s the document that decides whether you qualify for Employment Insurance, how much you’ll receive each week, and when your payments start.¹ Your employer completes it; you rely on it. Knowing when it’s supposed to arrive, what it should say, and what to do when something is off can be the difference between benefits paid on time and weeks of unnecessary delay.

When Your Employer Has to Issue One

The trigger is what the Employment Insurance Regulations call an “interruption of earnings.” That happens when you go seven or more consecutive days without doing any work for your employer and without receiving any insurable earnings from them.² A layoff, a termination, the end of a seasonal contract, or the start of an unpaid leave all qualify. You don’t need to have formally resigned for the obligation to kick in.

A separate trigger applies to certain leaves. If your weekly pay drops below 60 percent of your normal earnings because of illness, injury, pregnancy, parental leave, or compassionate care or family caregiver leave, your employer must also issue an ROE.³ The 60 percent threshold is tied to those specific leave categories, not to a general cut in hours or pay.

How Soon You Should Get It

The deadline depends on how your employer files. On paper, the ROE must be issued within five calendar days of the first day of the interruption of earnings (or five days after the employer becomes aware of it), and the employer has to hand you the paper copy directly.³

Electronically, employers have five calendar days after the end of the pay period in which your interruption of earnings occurred.⁴ Because electronic ROEs go straight to Service Canada’s database, employers who file that way are not required to give you a paper copy. Most employers now file electronically because it lines up with their payroll cycle.

How to Get Your Copy

If your employer filed electronically, log in to your My Service Canada Account (MSCA) and you can view, download, and print the ROE as soon as it’s uploaded.⁵ If your employer files on paper, they must give you the original, which you submit with your EI application. Either way, checking MSCA is worth doing so you can confirm Service Canada actually has what it needs to process your claim.³

What the ROE Says About Your EI

A handful of blocks on the form do most of the work in shaping your claim.

Insurable Hours (Block 15A)

Block 15A shows the total insurable hours you worked during your employment period, and those hours are measured against a regional threshold to decide whether you qualify for regular EI.¹ Depending on the unemployment rate where you live, you need between 420 and 700 insurable hours to be eligible; higher-unemployment regions require fewer hours.⁶

Insurable Earnings (Block 15B)

Block 15B reports your total insurable earnings over a look-back period of up to 53 weeks.³ Service Canada uses those figures with the “variable best weeks” calculation, selecting your 14 to 22 highest-earning weeks (the number varies by regional unemployment rate) and averaging them.⁷ Your weekly benefit is 55 percent of that average, up to the maximum. For 2026, the maximum insurable earnings are $68,900, translating to a maximum weekly benefit of $729.⁸

Reason for Separation (Block 16)

Block 16 is a single-letter code explaining why you stopped working, and it can move your claim from routine approval to weeks of review. The codes you’re most likely to see:

Code A – Shortage of work or end of contract. The smoothest path to approval, because the job loss was outside your control.
Code D – Illness or injury.
Code E – Quit. This normally triggers a review, and you’ll need to show “just cause” (something like harassment or unsafe conditions) to avoid a denial.
Code F – Maternity leave.
Code M – Dismissal or suspension. Service Canada will investigate the alleged misconduct before approving benefits.
Code P – Parental leave.
Code Z – Compassionate care or family caregiver leave.

Other codes cover situations like strikes, mandatory retirement, work-sharing, and apprentice training.⁹ If the code doesn’t match what actually happened, that’s something you can challenge.

Vacation Pay and Severance (Block 17)

Block 17 is where a lot of people are caught off guard, because separation payments reported here can push back your EI start date.

Block 17A covers vacation pay. Vacation pay that was already added to each regular paycheque as a percentage top-up doesn’t need to appear here. Vacation pay owed because you were laid off or terminated (the lump-sum payout of unused vacation) does.³ Service Canada allocates that lump sum across a corresponding number of weeks, moving your first benefit payment further out.

Block 17C captures other separation monies: severance packages, retiring allowances, and similar payments. Whether or not a payment counts as insurable, it still gets reported in Block 17; if it is insurable, the employer also adds it to the total in Block 15B.³ A generous severance or a large vacation payout can mean several weeks of waiting before your first cheque arrives.

If Your ROE Is Late or Missing

Don’t wait for the ROE to apply for EI. File your application right away. Waiting more than four weeks after your last day of work can cost you benefits, and you can submit the application while the ROE catches up.

While your application is pending, check MSCA to see whether the ROE was filed electronically without your knowing. If nothing’s there, ask your employer’s payroll or HR department in writing to file it, and keep a record of the request. If they still don’t respond after a couple of weeks, contact Service Canada by phone or visit a Service Canada Centre. Service Canada can intervene directly to demand the ROE from the employer. If the employer has gone out of business or simply refuses to cooperate, Service Canada can assess your eligibility using alternative evidence such as pay stubs, bank statements, and your written account of the hours and earnings involved.¹

Employers who fail to file, file late, or include false information face administrative monetary penalties and possible criminal offences under the Employment Insurance Act.¹⁰¹¹ That’s leverage Service Canada can bring to bear on your behalf.

If Your ROE Is Wrong

The disputes that come up most often involve the separation code in Block 16 and the insurable hours in Block 15A. If you were laid off but the employer coded you as a quit, or if the hours are lower than what you actually worked, your benefits are directly at risk.

Start by asking your employer to correct and resubmit the ROE. Employers can amend electronic ROEs through the ROE Web system.¹ If your employer disagrees with your version of events, Service Canada will investigate. Pull together whatever supports your position: termination letter, work schedules, email correspondence, previous pay stubs. You can upload documents through MSCA, mail them, or bring them to a Service Canada Centre. An officer reviews the evidence and makes a determination, and you can appeal if it goes against you.

Your employer controls what goes on the ROE, but they don’t get the final word. When the two sides disagree, Service Canada is the one that decides.

1
Employment and Social Development Canada. Record of Employment
2
Employment and Social Development Canada. Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles Chapter 2 – Section 1
3
Government of Canada. Employers – How to Complete the Record of Employment (ROE) Form
4
Canada Revenue Agency. Record of Employment (ROE)
5
Employment and Social Development Canada. My Service Canada Account
6
Employment and Social Development Canada. EI Regular Benefits – Do You Qualify
7
Employment and Social Development Canada. Variable Best Weeks
8
Employment and Social Development Canada. Important Notice About Maximum Insurable Earnings for 2026
9
Employment and Social Development Canada. Record of Employment (ROE) Web User Guide
10
Justice Laws Website. Employment Insurance Act – Section 39
11
Justice Laws Website. Employment Insurance Act – Section 135