Important Information for Employers - Changes to Regulations Concerning Electronic ROEs

On March 15, the Government of Canada made two major changes to the Employment Insurance (EI) Regulations that affect Records of Employment (ROEs).

The changes apply only to ROEs you submit electronically through Service Canada’s online services, such as ROE Web.

The Government changed the EI Regulations to respond to requests from the employer community to align the issuance of electronic ROEs with their payroll cycles. The changes will reduce the number of amended ROEs you have to issue, and will reduce your paper burden by eliminating the need to print and mail copies of electronic ROEs.

Note: These changes do not affect you if you still issue ROEs using paper forms. To find out how to eliminate the need to manually complete and store ROEs, reduce your paper burden, and save on postal fees, please see Manage Records of Employment.

How do the changes affect the way I issue ROEs?

1. If you submit ROEs electronically, you no longer need to print a paper copy for your employees. When you submit ROEs electronically, the data enters Service Canada’s systems directly, where it is used to process EI claims.

Note

• Ensure your employees are aware that you will be submitting their ROEs to Service Canada electronically.
• If your employees want copies of their ROEs, they should visit the My Service Canada Account page on the Web. From My Service Canada Account, they can view and/or print copies of ROEs on the same day you submit them. To access My Service Canada Account, your employees should visit My Service Canada Account.
• As a courtesy, even though you are no longer required to print paper copies of ROEs, you should do so if your employees ask for them.

2. If your pay period is weekly, biweekly, or semi-monthly, you now have up to 5 days after the end of the pay period when an employee’s interruption of earnings begins to issue an electronic ROE.

If your pay period is monthly or every four weeks, you must issue electronic ROEs on one of the following dates, whichever is earlier:

• up to 5 days after the end of the pay period when your employee’s interruption of earnings begins; or
• up to 15 days after the first day of the interruption of earnings.

Examples

Please note that deadlines to submit electronic Records of Employment are based on pay periods and the days on which the interruption of earnings occurred.

1. Weekly pay period

If you have a weekly pay period cycle, you must submit Records of Employment to Service Canada no later than 5 days after the end of the pay period during which the interruption of earnings occurs.

Example 1
Martin stops working and experiences an interruption of earnings on March 2, 2009. You have a weekly pay period that runs from February 28, 2009, to March 6, 2009. Since the pay period that contains the interruption of earnings will end on March 6, 2009, you must issue Martin’s Record of Employment no later than March 11, 2009.

2. Biweekly pay period

If you have a biweekly pay period cycle, you must submit Records of Employment to Service Canada no later than 5 days after the end of the pay period during which the interruption of earnings occurs.

Example 2
Ginette stops working and experiences an interruption of earnings on March 2, 2009. You have a biweekly pay period that runs from February 28, 2009, to March 13, 2009. Since the pay period that contains the interruption of earnings will end on March 13, 2009, you must issue Ginette’s Record of Employment no later than March 18, 2009.

3. Semi-monthly pay period

If you have a semi-monthly pay period cycle, you must submit Records of Employment to Service Canada no later than 5 days after the end of the pay period during which the interruption of earnings occurs.

Example 3
Safina stops working and experiences an interruption of earnings on March 2, 2009. You have a semi-monthly pay period that runs from March 1, 2009, to March 15, 2009. Since the pay period that contains the interruption of earnings will end on March 15, 2009, you must issue Safina’s Record of Employment no later than March 20, 2009.

4. Monthly pay period

If you have a monthly pay period cycle, you must submit Records of Employment to Service Canada on the earlier of two dates: either 5 days after the end of the pay period during which the interruption of earnings occurs, or 15 days after the first day of the interruption of earnings.

Example 4
Peter stops working and experiences an interruption of earnings on March 2, 2009. You have a monthly pay period that runs from March 1, 2009, to March 31, 2009. For a monthly pay period, the Record of Employment must be issued on the earlier of two dates: either 5 days after the end of the pay period that contains the interruption of earnings (April 5, 2009), or 15 days after the first day of the interruption of earnings (March 17, 2009). In this case, you must issue Peter’s Record of Employment no later than March 17, 2009, since that is the earlier of the two dates.

Example 5
Martha stops working and experiences an interruption of earnings on March 30, 2009. You have a monthly pay period that runs from March 1, 2009, to March 31, 2009. For a monthly pay period, the Record of Employment must be issued on the earlier of two dates: either 5 days after the end of the pay period that contains the interruption of earnings (April 5, 2009), or 15 days after the first day of the interruption of earnings (April 14, 2009). In this case, you must issue Martha’s Record of Employment no later than April 5, 2009, since that is the earlier of the two dates.

5. Thirteen pay periods (every four weeks)

If you have a 13 pay period cycle (you pay employees every four weeks), then you must submit Records of Employment to Service Canada on the earlier of two dates: either 5 days after the end of the pay period during which the interruption of earnings occurs, or 15 days after the first day of the interruption of earnings.

Example 6
Roberto stops working and experiences an interruption of earnings on March 2, 2009. You have a 13 pay period cycle, which ends every fourth week. The pay period that contains the interruption of earnings runs from March 1, 2009, to March 28, 2009. For this type of pay period cycle, you must issue the Record of Employment on the earlier of two dates: either 5 days after the end of the pay period that contains the interruption of earnings (April 2, 2009), or 15 days after the first day of the interruption of earnings (March 17, 2009). In this case, you must submit Roberto’s Record of Employment no later than March 17, 2009, since that is the earlier of the two dates.

Example 7
Juliette stops working and experiences an interruption of earnings on March 23, 2009. You have a pay period that runs from March 1, 2009, to March 28, 2009. For this type of pay period cycle, you must issue the Record of Employment on the earlier of two dates: either 5 days after the end of the pay period that contains the interruption of earnings (April 2, 2009), or 15 days after the first day of the interruption of earnings (April 7, 2009). In this case, you must submit Juliette’s Record of Employment no later than April 2, 2009, since that is the earlier of the two dates.