ROE Block Numbers Explained: Every Record of Employment Field, in Plain English
What each numbered block on a Canadian Record of Employment means, what Block 16 tells Service Canada, and how an ROE is amended when a block is wrong.
Written and reviewed by Rocco Clayfield, Founder & DirectorLast reviewed
Short answer
A Record of Employment (ROE) is a form a Canadian employer files with Service Canada whenever an employee has an interruption of earnings. It reports insurable hours, insurable earnings, the dates worked and the reason employment ended. Service Canada uses it to decide whether Employment Insurance is payable and how much.
A Record of Employment is filed when your earnings from an employer stop. By the time a worker reads one, the numbers have already been filed and an Employment Insurance decision is being made from them. The form is a grid of numbered blocks with no explanations printed on it.
This page walks through the blocks a worker needs to read: the dates, the insurable hours, the insurable earnings, the money paid on separation, and the single-letter code in Block 16 that tells Service Canada why your earnings stopped.
Everything here is education, not legal, tax or payroll advice. Figures are for 2026 and take effect 1 January 2026, with the 2025 figures shown alongside them, because an ROE issued in 2026 reports a period that can reach back into 2025. Sources are Service Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency's EI premium tables and the Employment Insurance Act. Where a number depends on your region or your employer, this page says so instead of guessing.
What this page helps you check
- Block 16 holds a single letter. It should match how the employment actually ended, because that letter is the reason Service Canada assesses the claim against.
- Block 11 (last day for which paid) should be the last day you had insurable earnings, including paid leave, rather than the day you cleared your desk.
- Block 15A (total insurable hours) should reflect the insurable hours worked in the reporting period, including overtime and paid statutory holidays inside the period.
- Block 15B (total insurable earnings) should include the insurable separation amounts reported in Block 17, not just your regular pay.
- Blocks 17A, 17B and 17C should list vacation pay, statutory holiday pay and other separation monies separately, with amounts that tie back to your final pay statement.
- Block 10 (first day worked) should be your actual start date, or the first day after the last interruption of earnings if an ROE was issued before.
- Block 14 (expected date of recall) is optional under Service Canada's guide, so it may be blank. If it is completed, it should say 'unknown' or 'not returning' where no return date was agreed.
- Block 12 (final pay period ending date) should not be earlier than Block 11. Service Canada's guide states Block 12 cannot precede Block 11.
- Block 16 should carry the full name and telephone number of someone at the employer for a person at the employer, because Service Canada's instructions require Block 16 to name a person who is readily available to explain the reason for issuing the ROE.
What a Record of Employment actually is
A Record of Employment is a federal form. Employment and Social Development Canada issues it and Service Canada processes it. Service Canada describes it as the single most important document used by employees to apply for Employment Insurance benefits.
The trigger is not termination. The trigger is an interruption of earnings, and Service Canada's ROE guide sets out three ways one occurs. The first is the seven-day rule: seven consecutive calendar days with no work and no insurable earnings from that employer. The second applies to specific leaves — illness, injury or quarantine, pregnancy or maternity, parental or adoption leave, and compassionate care or family caregiver leave — where an interruption of earnings also occurs when the employee's salary falls below 60% of their regular weekly earnings. The third is when an employee starts receiving wage loss insurance payments.
The guide also sets exceptions to the seven-day rule. Regular annual vacation taken while the employee remains employed does not create one. Real estate agents are treated as having an interruption of earnings only where the licence is surrendered, suspended or revoked, unless one of the qualifying leaves applies. Employees with recognised non-standard work schedules and commission salespeople are handled separately, with commission salespeople counted only on termination of the contract, again unless a qualifying leave applies.
So an ROE is not proof you were fired, and it is not a reference letter. It is a payroll record. It tells Service Canada three things: how long you worked, how much insurable work you did in hours and dollars, and why the earnings stopped.
One employer, one ROE per interruption. If you worked for three employers in a year and all three stopped paying you, all three owe you an ROE.
Why the blocks are numbered, and which ones matter to a worker
The form runs from Block 1 to Block 22. Some blocks are administrative. Block 1 is the serial number. Block 2 is the serial number of an ROE being amended or replaced. Block 3 is the employer's payroll reference number, which the guide marks optional. Block 4 is the employer's name and address. Block 5 is the CRA payroll account number. Block 7 is the employer's postal code. Block 8 is your Social Insurance Number. Block 9 is your name and address. Block 13 is your occupation, which the guide marks optional. Block 20 records the language, English or French, in which correspondence about the ROE is handled.
The blocks that shape the claim are Blocks 6, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15A, 15B, 15C, 16, 17A, 17B, 17C, 18, 19, 21 and 22. Those are covered below in order.
One structural point is worth holding onto before you read on. Blocks 15A and 15B set the size of the claim. Block 16 sets the reason the claim is assessed against. Errors in the date blocks feed through into the reporting windows behind the totals.
Block 6: pay period type
Block 6 records how often the employer paid you. Service Canada's completion guide lists weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, monthly, and 13 pay periods a year. Employers paying commission or irregular amounts are directed to use weekly and average the earnings.
This block sets the arithmetic for the blocks after it. The number of pay periods an employer reports in Block 15A, Block 15B and Block 15C is defined by the pay period type. It also sets the filing deadline, which is covered further down this page.
If Block 6 says biweekly and you were paid semi-monthly, the reporting windows behind Blocks 15A and 15B are the wrong length, and the totals move with them. A worker who spots that mismatch can raise it with payroll in writing.
Blocks 10, 11 and 12: the dates that frame the claim
Block 10 is the first day worked. Service Canada's guide describes it as the first day you worked and had insurable earnings for that employer. If the employer issued you an ROE before, Block 10 is the first day after that last interruption of earnings, not your original hire date. A long-serving employee who took a maternity leave five years ago may see a Block 10 date much later than the day they were hired. That follows the guide's rule rather than being an error.
Block 11 is the last day for which paid. This is the last day you had insurable earnings, and it includes paid leave. Paid vacation taken before you left, paid sick days and salary continuance all count. It is not the last day you physically attended the workplace, and it is not the date the employer decided to end your job.
Block 12 is the final pay period ending date. It is the end date of the pay period that contains the Block 11 date. Service Canada's guide states that Block 12 cannot be earlier than Block 11. Where it is, the form is internally inconsistent and an amended ROE is the guide's mechanism for putting it right.
These three dates are what Service Canada uses to place the claim on a calendar. If they are wrong, the qualifying period is measured from the wrong point.
Block 14: expected date of recall
Block 14 asks whether the employee is coming back. Service Canada's guide marks this block optional, so it may be blank on a valid ROE. Where it is completed, the employer can enter a specific return date, check the 'Unknown' box, or check the 'Not returning' box.
For a seasonal or temporary layoff, a recall date is the entry the guide contemplates. For a permanent separation, 'Not returning' is the accurate entry.
Workers laid off with vague reassurances can read this block against what was actually agreed. Where no return date was agreed, the guide's instruction is to check 'Unknown', and a worker who sees a date they never agreed to can raise it with payroll.
Block 15A: total insurable hours
Block 15A is the total number of insurable hours worked in the reporting period. Service Canada sets the length of that period by pay period type: up to 53 consecutive weekly pay periods, 27 biweekly, 25 semi-monthly, 13 monthly, or 14 where the employer runs 13 pay periods a year. Where the employment was shorter, the employer reports what there is.
Insurable hours include regular hours and overtime hours actually worked. They include hours for paid statutory holidays that fall inside the period, with one exception: Service Canada's guide directs employers to exclude a statutory holiday that falls after the Block 11 date when the departure is final.
This is the block measured against the entry requirement. Service Canada's EI regular benefits eligibility page states that you need between 420 and 700 hours of insurable employment during the qualifying period, depending on the unemployment rate in your economic region. There is no single national number. Two people with identical work histories in different regions can get different answers.
Where paid overtime was not counted, or hours were recorded late and paid afterwards, Block 15A can be short. Because the requirement is an hours threshold, a shortfall of a few hours changes the answer at the boundary.
Block 15B: total insurable earnings
Block 15B is the total of insurable earnings over a shorter window than Block 15A. Service Canada sets that window by pay period type as well: up to 27 consecutive weekly pay periods, 14 biweekly, 13 semi-monthly, 7 monthly, or 7 where the employer runs 13 pay periods a year.
Block 15B is not just salary. Service Canada's guide directs employers to include the separation payments reported in Block 17 where those amounts are insurable. Vacation pay owed on separation, statutory holiday pay for holidays after the last day paid, severance and termination pay all form part of the Block 15B figure to the extent they are insurable.
Only earnings up to the annual maximum insurable earnings are insurable. The maximum insurable earnings figure is $68,900 for 2026 and was $65,700 for 2025, both set by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission. Earnings above the ceiling in a year do not carry EI premiums and do not raise the benefit.
Two mechanisms produce a Block 15B that reads low against your own records: insurable separation pay left out of the total, and a reporting window measured from the wrong Block 12 date.
Block 15C: insurable earnings by pay period
Block 15C breaks the earnings down pay period by pay period, most recent first. On an electronic ROE the employer supplies the equivalent of 53 weeks of payroll data, or less where the employment was shorter, and it is mandatory. On a paper ROE there are 27 fields, and the guide requires them only where the employee had one or more pay periods with no insurable earnings. Service Canada encourages employers to complete Block 15C even when it is not mandatory, because it supplies the data for the variable best weeks calculation and reduces follow-up enquiries.
This block exists because Employment Insurance is not calculated on a flat average. Service Canada calculates the weekly benefit rate using the best weeks of insurable earnings within the qualifying period, and the number of best weeks used ranges from 14 to 22 depending on the unemployment rate in the region.
That is why the breakdown carries weight the total does not. A worker with uneven hours can have a modest Block 15B and still reach a reasonable benefit rate, because the best weeks are drawn out of Block 15C rather than averaged flat across the whole period.
Where hours swung widely, this is the block to read closely. A pay period recorded as nil in a week that was in fact paid pulls the best weeks down.
Block 16: the reason for issuing this ROE, and every code
Block 16 holds one letter. It tells Service Canada why the earnings stopped, and Employment Insurance eligibility is assessed against that reason.
Service Canada's guide lists these codes. Code A, shortage of work, covering layoffs, end of contract and end of season. Code B, strike or lockout. Code C, return to school: the guide states Service Canada is phasing this code out and directs employers to use one of the other codes instead, but Code C can still appear on older ROEs. Code D, illness or injury. Code E, quit. Code F, maternity. Code G, retirement, used for mandatory retirement or retirement under an approved work force reduction. Code H, work sharing, used when the employee is on Service Canada's Work-Sharing program. Code J, apprentice training. Code K, other, which the guide says is for exceptional circumstances only and requires an explanation in Block 18. Code M, dismissal or suspension. Code N, leave of absence. Code P, parental. Code Z, compassionate care or family caregiver.
Two things follow from the code. First, some codes point to a benefit type. Codes F and P point to maternity and parental benefits. Code D points to sickness benefits. Code Z points to compassionate care or family caregiver benefits. Code A points to regular benefits.
Second, some codes raise a question Service Canada has to decide before regular benefits are payable. Service Canada's eligibility page states that you may not be entitled to regular benefits if you voluntarily left your job without just cause, if you were dismissed for misconduct, or if you are unemployed because you are directly participating in a labour dispute. Codes E, M and B each touch one of those. Service Canada may contact you and your employer for information before deciding.
Service Canada's guide also warns employers that it is a serious offence to misrepresent the reason for issuing an ROE, and that knowingly entering a false or misleading reason can lead to fines or prosecution. The code is not a matter of preference.
Code E (quit) and Code M (dismissal) in detail
Code E means the employee initiated the separation. Service Canada's guide gives examples such as leaving to take another job, moving with a spouse, returning to school, voluntary retirement, and leaving for health reasons. On ROE Web the employer picks the specific reason from a drop-down list; on a paper ROE the employer writes it in Block 18.
Code E does not by itself end an EI claim. The statutory test is just cause, not the bare fact of leaving. Section 29(c) of the Employment Insurance Act provides that just cause exists where the claimant had no reasonable alternative to leaving, having regard to all the circumstances, and it enumerates circumstances including sexual or other harassment, an obligation to accompany a spouse, common-law partner or dependent child to another residence, working conditions that constitute a danger to health or safety, an obligation to care for a child or an immediate family member, a significant modification of terms and conditions respecting wages or salary, significant changes in work duties, excessive overtime or refusal to pay for overtime, and undue pressure from an employer to leave. Service Canada applies that provision to the facts of each case and will ask the claimant to explain in their own words. The sub-reason recorded on the ROE is the employer's account, and the claimant gives theirs to Service Canada.
Code M is the guide's code for dismissal or suspension. It records who ended the employment and that the reason was not one of the other listed codes. It is not itself a finding about the employee's conduct.
Code M is not the same as disqualification. Service Canada's eligibility page states that a person dismissed for misconduct may not be entitled to regular benefits. Misconduct has a specific meaning in Employment Insurance law and is decided by Service Canada on the facts of each case. Service Canada's guide directs employers to record a termination within a probationary period in Block 18, or by choosing that option on ROE Web; recording it that way is a form-completion instruction, not a finding of misconduct.
Where an ROE says E and the worker considers they were pushed out, or says M where the work ran out, the guide's mechanism is an amended ROE, and a correction can be raised with payroll before a decision letter arrives.
Blocks 17A, 17B and 17C: money paid because the job ended
Block 17 covers payments tied to the separation. It is split into three parts and each part is read differently.
Block 17A is vacation pay. Service Canada's guide directs employers to enter any vacation pay the employer has paid or will pay because of the separation. Vacation pay added to every regular cheque as a percentage is not reported here, because it already formed part of regular insurable earnings.
Block 17B is statutory holiday pay. The employer lists each statutory holiday that falls after the Block 11 date, with the date and the amount, including replacement days and designated floater days. A paper ROE has room for three; an electronic ROE has room for ten.
Block 17C is other monies. The guide describes it as any other payment or benefit, other than the vacation pay in 17A or the statutory holiday pay in 17B, that the employer has paid or will pay because of the separation, whether or not the amount is insurable. The examples the guide gives include severance pay, termination pay, closure or loyalty bonuses, event bonuses, court-ordered payments, damages awarded, lump-sum payments and compensation for lost benefits.
Group wage loss indemnity payments are not reported in Block 17C. They belong in Block 19, which is titled for them and is covered in the next section.
Money reported in Block 17 is treated as earnings and can be allocated to weeks following the last day paid, which moves back when benefits start. That allocation is how the system is designed to work, not a penalty. It depends on the amounts and dates being right, which is why Block 17 is worth reading line by line against the final pay statement.
Blocks 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22
Block 18 is comments. Service Canada's guide tells employers to use it only in exceptional circumstances, and states that when a comment is included the ROE is removed from the automated processing system for a Service Canada officer to review manually. Used properly it carries real information: the reason for a quit on a paper ROE, an explanation for a Code K, or a note that a termination happened within a probationary period.
Block 19 is used where the employee receives paid sick, maternity, parental, compassionate care or family caregiver leave payments, or group wage loss indemnity payments, on or after the last day for which paid in Block 11. The employer enters the date on or after which those payments start and the amount or rate. Service Canada uses the block to allocate those payments against the claim.
Block 20 records the language preference, English or French, selected on the form.
Block 21 is the telephone number of the issuer — the person at the employer who completed the ROE and can answer questions about it. The issuer's printed name, title and signature go in Block 22. That is the contact Service Canada is given if it has a question about the file.
Block 22 is the certification. On a paper ROE the issuer signs and dates it, certifying that the information is correct. On an electronic ROE the submission through ROE Web serves as that certification. Either way, someone at the employer has attested to the numbers.
How Blocks 15A and 15B are used to calculate an EI claim
The two blocks do different jobs.
Block 15A is measured against the entry requirement. Service Canada requires between 420 and 700 insurable hours in the qualifying period for regular benefits, set by the unemployment rate in the economic region. The qualifying period is the shorter of the 52 weeks immediately before the claim start date, or the period from the start of a previous benefit period to the start of the new one, and it may be extended to a maximum of 104 weeks where the person was not in insurable employment and not receiving EI benefits.
Block 15B and Block 15C feed the amount. The basic regular benefit rate is 55% of average insurable weekly earnings, calculated from the best weeks.
Hours and dollars are not interchangeable. A part-time worker with high hourly pay can clear the dollar side and still fall short on hours. A worker on a long series of short shifts can accumulate hours and still reach a modest weekly rate. Both blocks have to be right.
Which year's EI figures apply to your ROE
An ROE issued in 2026 can report a period that reaches back into 2025, because the Block 15A window can run up to 53 weekly pay periods. Two different sets of annual figures can therefore touch the same form, and each carries its own year.
Maximum insurable earnings: $68,900 for 2026, effective 1 January 2026, and $65,700 for 2025. Earnings above the ceiling in force for the year in question are not insurable, so a reporting window that crosses 1 January 2026 is capped at the 2025 ceiling for the 2025 portion and the 2026 ceiling for the 2026 portion.
Employee EI premium rate outside Quebec: $1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings for 2026, to a maximum annual employee premium of $1,123.07; $1.64 per $100 for 2025, to a maximum of $1,077.48. In Quebec: $1.30 per $100 for 2026, to a maximum of $895.70; $1.31 per $100 for 2025, to a maximum of $860.67. These are the premiums that funded the insurable earnings the ROE reports, and they come from the Canada Employment Insurance Commission and the CRA's published EI premium tables.
Maximum weekly regular benefit: $729 for claims beginning on or after 28 December 2025, and $695 for claims that began before that date. The figure that applies is set by the claim start date, not by the date the ROE was filed.
None of these figures is a tax-year figure. They are calendar-year figures set by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission and take effect on 1 January, with the benefit rate switching over at the start of the benefit year.
When your employer must issue the ROE
The deadline depends on how the ROE is filed and on the pay period type in Block 6. These rules come from Service Canada's ROE completion guide, and the Canada Revenue Agency's payroll pages repeat the electronic five-calendar-day deadline.
For an electronic ROE where the pay period is weekly, biweekly or semi-monthly, the deadline is five calendar days after the end of the pay period in which the interruption of earnings occurred.
For an electronic ROE where the employer pays monthly or runs 13 pay periods a year, the deadline is whichever comes first: five calendar days after the end of the pay period, or 15 calendar days after the first day of the interruption of earnings.
For a paper ROE, the deadline is within five calendar days of the first day of the interruption of earnings, or of the day the employer becomes aware of it.
These are short deadlines. A late ROE does not change entitlement, but it delays processing, so the date is worth tracking against your own last day paid.
Electronic ROEs, ROE Web and My Service Canada Account
Employment and Social Development Canada tells employers who submit ROEs electronically through ROE Web that they do not have to provide a paper copy to employees, because employees do not need one to apply for EI benefits. ESDC also states that ROEs are always available online and that employees can view or print copies using My Service Canada Account.
That is why nothing may arrive in the mail and nothing may be handed over on the last day, even though an ROE has been filed.
My Service Canada Account is the federal government's online account for Employment Insurance, Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security. Electronic ROEs issued by employers appear in its Records of Employment section. Registration requires identity verification, which takes time, so the account is easier to set up before it is needed than during a claim.
Where an employer still issues paper, the form has three parts. ESDC directs the employer to give the first copy, the original, to the employee as proof of insurable earnings, to send the second copy to Service Canada as indicated on the form, and to keep the third copy on file for six years.
Service Canada's application page states that you can send required documents after you apply, and that applying more than four weeks after your last day of work may cost you benefits. Those two statements together are why waiting for paperwork before applying carries a cost.
If a block is wrong: how to get an amended ROE
Workers who believe a block is wrong can raise it with payroll in writing, naming the block number, what it says and what they believe it should say, with evidence attached: pay statements, a schedule, a termination letter, an email confirming a layoff. Block numbers make that message specific, which is the main practical reason to learn them.
Employers cannot cancel an ROE that has been issued. Service Canada's guide directs them to issue an amended ROE instead. On an amended ROE the employer completes every block, not only the ones that changed, and references the serial number of the original ROE. On paper that serial number goes in Block 2; where a paper ROE is being amended through ROE Web, the guide directs the employer to note it in Block 18 with the original serial number.
Employers keep the underlying payroll records for six years after the year to which they relate, so the source data behind a correction should still exist.
Where the disagreement is about Block 16 rather than a number, the employer's agreement is not a precondition to claiming. Service Canada takes the claimant's own account of what happened and decides, and may contact both the claimant and the employer for information first. If a decision goes against a claimant, Service Canada's decision letter sets out the process for requesting a reconsideration and the time limit that applies.
If your employer will not issue an ROE at all
Issuing an ROE on an interruption of earnings is a legal obligation on the employer, not a courtesy. Where none has appeared after the deadline that applies to the employer's pay period type, the following steps are the ones the government's own pages describe.
A written request creates a record. A short email naming the last day worked and asking when the ROE will be filed does that.
Service Canada tells claimants to apply for Employment Insurance as soon as they stop working rather than waiting for the ROE, and to send required documents afterwards, and that applying more than four weeks after your last day of work may cost you benefits.
Service Canada can be told the ROE is missing at the time of application, with the employer's legal name, address and payroll contact.
Substitute proof is worth gathering while waiting: pay statements, T4 slips, bank deposits, the schedule and any letter about the end of the job. Service Canada may ask for these to establish hours and earnings.
Where the employer has closed, been sold or gone into insolvency, saying so at the point of application gives Service Canada the reason the record is missing.
What this page does not cover
This page explains what the blocks mean. It does not say whether a particular person qualifies for Employment Insurance, how many hours an economic region requires this month, or what a weekly benefit would be. Those depend on the region, the dates and the earnings, and Service Canada decides them.
It also does not cover severance entitlements. How much notice or severance is owed comes from provincial employment standards legislation, from the Canada Labour Code where the employer is federally regulated, from the contract, or from the common law. The ROE reports what was paid. It does not decide what should have been paid.
Where money is at stake and the facts are disputed, an employment lawyer or the provincial employment standards office can advise. PayStub IQ Canada is an independent payroll education publisher and is not affiliated with the Canada Revenue Agency, Service Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, Revenu Québec, CNESST or any provincial employment standards office.
Province & territory note
Quebec works differently
Common red flags worth checking
These do not automatically mean there is an error. They are simply lines worth a closer look, or worth asking payroll to explain.
Block 16 shows Code E (quit) when you were laid off, pushed out or dismissed
Block 16 shows Code E (quit) when you were laid off, pushed out or dismissed. Service Canada decides whether Employment Insurance is payable on the facts, and an employee who disagrees with the code can say so when they apply.
Block 16 shows Code M (dismissal) when the work ran out
Block 16 shows Code M (dismissal) when the work ran out. Code A (shortage of work) is the guide's code for a layoff, and the two are assessed against different eligibility questions.
Block 11 shows the last day you attended work rather than the last day you had i
Block 11 shows the last day you attended work rather than the last day you had insurable earnings, including paid vacation or salary continuance. This shortens the record.
Block 12 is earlier than Block 11
Block 12 is earlier than Block 11. Service Canada's guide states Block 12 cannot precede Block 11, so the form is internally inconsistent.
Block 15A reads short against the hours on your pay statements
Block 15A reads short against the hours on your pay statements. Because entry is an hours threshold of 420 to 700 depending on the region, missing overtime or late-recorded paid hours changes the answer at the boundary.
Block 15B does not include the insurable severance, termination pay or vacation
Block 15B does not include the insurable severance, termination pay or vacation pay shown in Block 17, even though Service Canada directs employers to include insurable separation amounts in the Block 15B total.
Block 14 shows a recall date that was never agreed, where the separation was per
Block 14 shows a recall date that was never agreed, where the separation was permanent. The guide's instruction is to check 'Unknown' where the return date is not known.
Group wage loss indemnity payments appear in Block 17C rather than Block 19
Group wage loss indemnity payments appear in Block 17C rather than Block 19. The guide places those payments in Block 19, with the start date and the amount or rate.
No ROE appears in My Service Canada Account past the filing deadline for the emp
No ROE appears in My Service Canada Account past the filing deadline for the employer's pay period type, and a written request has gone unanswered.
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What to ask payroll or HR
Calm, specific questions get clearer answers. You can copy any of these, or build a full message with the Payroll Message Generator.
- “Which reason code did you enter in Block 16, and what sub-reason or Block 18 comment went with it? Please send me a copy of the ROE as filed.”
- “What dates did you enter in Block 10, Block 11 and Block 12, and does Block 11 include my paid vacation and any salary continuance?”
- “What total did you report in Block 15A for insurable hours, and does it include my overtime and the paid statutory holidays inside the reporting period?”
- “Does the Block 15B insurable earnings total include the insurable vacation pay, statutory holiday pay and severance reported in Block 17? Please show me the breakdown.”
- “Was Block 15C completed, and if the ROE was filed on paper and Block 15C is blank, would you complete it as Service Canada encourages?”
- “Was this ROE filed electronically through ROE Web or on paper, and on what date was it filed?”
- “If Block 16 or a figure is incorrect, will you issue an amended ROE referencing the original serial number, and by what date?”
Frequently asked questions
What is a Record of Employment (ROE)?
It is the federal form an employer files with Service Canada when an employee's insurable earnings stop. Employment and Social Development Canada issues the form and Service Canada describes it as the single most important document used by employees to apply for Employment Insurance. It sets out the employment dates, insurable hours, insurable earnings, any money paid because the job ended, and a one-letter reason code.
What triggers an ROE? Is it only when I am fired?
No. The trigger is an interruption of earnings, and Service Canada's guide sets out three. Seven consecutive calendar days with no work and no insurable earnings from the employer. A drop in salary below 60% of regular weekly earnings where the reason is illness, injury or quarantine, pregnancy or maternity, parental or adoption leave, or compassionate care or family caregiver leave. And the start of wage loss insurance payments. The guide also sets exceptions, including regular annual vacation while the employee remains employed.
Which ROE block matters most?
Block 16, the reason for issuing the ROE. It holds a single letter and it is the reason Service Canada assesses the claim against. Codes E (quit), M (dismissal or suspension) and B (strike or lockout) each touch a circumstance in which Service Canada's eligibility page says a person may not be entitled to regular benefits.
What are all the Block 16 codes?
A shortage of work, B strike or lockout, C return to school, D illness or injury, E quit, F maternity, G retirement, H work sharing, J apprentice training, K other, M dismissal or suspension, N leave of absence, P parental, and Z compassionate care or family caregiver. Service Canada's guide says Code K is for exceptional circumstances only and requires an explanation in Block 18. It also states that Code C is being phased out and directs employers to use one of the other codes instead, though Code C can still appear on older ROEs.
Does Code E (quit) mean I cannot get EI?
Not automatically. Service Canada's eligibility page states that a person who voluntarily left without just cause may not be entitled to regular benefits. The test is just cause. Section 29(c) of the Employment Insurance Act provides that just cause exists where the claimant had no reasonable alternative to leaving, and enumerates circumstances including harassment, danger to health or safety, a significant change to wages or duties, and an obligation to care for an immediate family member. Service Canada applies that to the facts and asks the claimant for their account.
Does Code M (dismissal) mean I cannot get EI?
Not automatically. Service Canada's eligibility page states that a person dismissed for misconduct may not be entitled to regular benefits. Misconduct has a specific meaning in Employment Insurance law and Service Canada decides it on the facts of each case. Service Canada's guide directs employers to record a termination within a probationary period in Block 18 or by choosing that option on ROE Web; that is a form-completion instruction, not a finding of misconduct.
What is the difference between Block 15A and Block 15B?
Block 15A is total insurable hours and is measured against the entry requirement: Service Canada requires between 420 and 700 insurable hours in the qualifying period, depending on the region's unemployment rate. Block 15B is total insurable earnings and, with Block 15C, feeds the amount. The two blocks also use different reporting windows, so they are not two views of the same period.
Why does Block 15C list earnings pay period by pay period?
Because Employment Insurance is calculated from the best weeks of insurable earnings rather than a flat average. Service Canada uses between 14 and 22 best weeks depending on the region's unemployment rate. On an electronic ROE the employer supplies the equivalent of 53 weeks of payroll data. On paper there are 27 fields, mandatory only where a pay period had no insurable earnings, though Service Canada encourages employers to complete them anyway.
When does my employer have to issue the ROE?
For an electronic ROE with weekly, biweekly or semi-monthly pay, five calendar days after the end of the pay period in which the interruption occurred. For monthly pay or 13 pay periods a year, the earlier of five calendar days after the pay period ends or 15 calendar days after the first day of the interruption. For paper, within five calendar days of the first day of the interruption or of the employer becoming aware of it.
I never received a paper ROE. Was one issued?
Possibly. Employment and Social Development Canada tells employers who file through ROE Web that they do not have to provide a paper copy, because employees do not need one to apply for EI. ESDC also states that ROEs are always available online and can be viewed or printed through My Service Canada Account, so that is where to check what an employer has filed.
How do I see my ROE online?
Register for or sign in to My Service Canada Account and open the Records of Employment section. Electronic ROEs filed by employers appear there. Registration requires identity verification, so the account is easier to set up before a claim than during one.
What is in Block 17, and why does it move my benefit start date?
Block 17A is vacation pay payable because of the separation, 17B is statutory holiday pay for holidays after the last day paid, and 17C is other monies: the guide's examples include severance pay, termination pay, closure or loyalty bonuses, event bonuses, court-ordered payments, damages awarded, lump-sum payments and compensation for lost benefits. These amounts are generally treated as earnings and allocated to weeks after the last day paid, which moves back when benefits begin.
Where do group wage loss indemnity payments go on the ROE?
In Block 19, not Block 17C. Block 19 covers paid sick, maternity, parental, compassionate care or family caregiver leave payments and group wage loss indemnity payments made on or after the last day for which paid in Block 11. The employer enters the date on or after which the payments start and the amount or rate.
Is Block 14 required?
No. Service Canada's guide marks Block 14, the expected date of recall, as optional, so a blank Block 14 is not by itself an error. Where it is completed, the guide's instruction is to enter the expected return date if it is known, check 'Unknown' if it is not, and check 'Not returning' where the employee will not be coming back.
How do I get an ROE corrected?
The correction is raised with payroll in writing, naming the block number, the current entry and the entry believed to be correct, with pay statements as evidence. An issued ROE cannot be cancelled, so the employer issues an amended ROE. Service Canada requires every block on an amended ROE to be completed and the original serial number to be referenced, in Block 2 on paper or in Block 18 where a paper ROE is amended through ROE Web.
What if my employer does not issue an ROE?
Service Canada's application page states that a person can apply for Employment Insurance without the ROE and send required documents afterwards, and that applying more than four weeks after the last day of work may cost benefits. The employer's legal name, address and payroll contact can be given at the point of application, and pay statements, T4 slips and bank deposits serve as substitute proof of hours and earnings.
Should I wait for my ROE before applying for EI?
Service Canada states that you can send required documents after you apply, and that applying more than four weeks after your last day of work may cost you benefits. Those two statements set out the cost of waiting.
How much is EI worth in 2026, and what were the 2025 figures?
The basic regular benefit rate is 55% of average insurable weekly earnings. Maximum insurable earnings are $68,900 for 2026 and were $65,700 for 2025. The maximum weekly regular benefit is $729 for claims beginning on or after 28 December 2025, and was $695 for claims beginning before that date. An individual amount depends on the Block 15B and 15C figures and the region.
Official sources for this page
Every figure here is derived from these. Where a number matters to you, read it at the source — PayStub IQ Canada explains the rules, it does not set them.
- How to complete the Record of Employment — Employment and Social Development Canada
- EI regular benefits: how much you could receive — Employment and Social Development Canada
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PayStub IQ Canada provides educational payroll explanations based on the information visible in your document. It does not provide legal, tax, accounting, payroll, CRA, Revenu Québec, or employment standards advice. For official decisions or corrections, contact your employer, payroll department, CRA, Revenu Québec, your provincial or territorial employment standards office, or a qualified professional.