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My Employer Is Not Paying CPP or EI in Canada

Updated

There are two different problems behind “my employer isn’t paying CPP or EI”. Either the deductions never show up on your pay, or they show up but the money never reaches the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Both can leave gaps in your CPP record and your EI eligibility, and both are fixed through the CRA rather than employment standards. This page covers how to check which one you have and what to do about it. Other workplace disputes are on the workplace rights and employee benefits hub.

The short answer

Look for CPP and EI lines on your pay stubs and in boxes 16 and 18 of your T4. If they’re missing and your job should be covered, ask payroll in writing, then contact the CRA, which can rule on whether your job is pensionable and insurable and go after the employer. Then check your CPP Statement of Contributions to make sure the years end up on your record.

Step 1: Check your pay stubs and T4

Pay stubs. Each regular pay should show a CPP deduction (and a separate CPP2 deduction once your earnings for the year pass the first CPP ceiling) and an EI deduction. If you’re not sure which line is which, see how to read a pay stub. In Quebec, the pension line is QPP instead of CPP.

T4 slip. Box 16 shows your CPP contributions, box 16A your CPP2 contributions and box 18 your EI premiums, with your employment income in box 14. A blank box 16 or 18 on a year you worked full-time is the clearest sign that nothing was deducted. Every box is explained in the T4 slip guide.

Deducted but maybe not remitted. If the stubs show deductions but you suspect they aren’t reaching the CRA, the place to check is your contribution record (Step 4), not the stubs.

What should be coming off your pay

Your employer deducts CPP contributions from your pensionable earnings and contributes an equal amount itself, and handles the second additional contribution (CPP2) the same way; if you are self-employed, you pay both the employee and employer shares. Employers in Quebec deduct QPP contributions instead.
  • CPP: for 2026, employees contribute 5.95% of earnings between the $3,500 basic exemption and $74,600, up to $4,230.45 for the year, plus CPP2 of 4% on earnings from $74,600 to $85,000. Every year’s figures are on the CPP contribution rates page.
  • EI: employees pay $1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings up to $68,900, a maximum of $1,123.07 for 2026, and the employer pays 1.4 times the employee premium. Quebec has its own EI rate because of QPIP; both sets are on the EI premium rates page.

The employer has to send the CRA your deductions and its own share. You are not required to pay the employer’s share yourself.

Why the gap matters to you

  • CPP pension. Your CPP retirement pension is based on the contributions recorded under your social insurance number. Years an employer didn’t report can show up as low or blank years on your CPP Statement of Contributions, which lowers the pension you’ll get.
  • EI claims. EI eligibility and benefit amounts depend on your insurable hours and earnings. If your employer treated the job as not insurable, those hours may be missing when you apply for EI, and you may need a ruling before the claim can go ahead.

Step 2: Ask payroll in writing

Ask why CPP or EI isn’t on your pay, and keep the answer. Sometimes there’s a real reason: some kinds of employment aren’t pensionable or insurable. Often the answer is that you’re “a contractor”. Whether that’s right depends on the employee vs contractor status test. If it doesn’t match how you actually work, you may also be owed other money, such as vacation pay and overtime.

Step 3: Take it to the CRA

  • Ask for a CPP/EI ruling. Form CPT1 is the form “to request a ruling as to whether a worker’s employment is pensionable and/or insurable.” It can be completed by the worker, the payer or an authorized representative, so you can file it yourself.
  • Call the CRA’s business enquiries line at 1-800-959-5525 if you want to talk through what you’re seeing before filing anything.
  • Report deliberate non-remittance. If you think the employer is keeping deductions it took from your pay, you can report it to the CRA as suspected tax non-compliance.

Step 4: Check your contribution record

Sign in to My Service Canada Account and look at your CPP Statement of Contributions year by year. Compare the earnings shown with your T4s. If a year is missing or too low, the contribution history guide explains how to ask for a correction, and your T4s and pay stubs are the evidence.

Who is liable

The employer. It is responsible for deducting and remitting both shares, and the CRA can assess it for the unremitted amounts with interest and penalties. Directors of a corporation can be held personally liable for unremitted payroll deductions, and wilful non-remittance can be prosecuted. Your part is to report it and make sure your record is corrected.

Questions about missing CPP or EI

Can I be fired for reporting my employer to the CRA? Provincial employment standards laws protect employees from being penalized for asking the employer to comply with those laws or for filing a complaint under them; Ontario’s list is typical. A report to the CRA isn’t an employment standards complaint, so whether a dismissal after one is covered depends on the facts, and a dismissal can also be challenged as wrongful dismissal. The reprisal rules for each jurisdiction are on the guide to filing an employment standards complaint.

I’m leaving the job. Will the missing EI stop my claim? You can still apply. Service Canada uses your Record of Employment for insurable hours; if the employer treated the job as not insurable, a CPT1 ruling may be needed to settle it.

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Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 5, 2026 and October 1, 2026. How we check facts.