Record of Employment (ROE) in Canada: How to See It, the Codes, and a Late or Missing ROE

A Record of Employment (ROE) is the form your employer completes when your earnings are interrupted, because you quit, were laid off or let go, or went on certain leaves, and it records your employment history, insurable hours and earnings, and the reason it was issued. Service Canada calls it “the single most important document” for an Employment Insurance (EI) claim, and uses it to decide whether you can get EI, how much and for how long. An electronic ROE goes straight to Service Canada and you can see it in My Service Canada Account. A late or missing ROE doesn’t stop you applying for EI: Service Canada says “You can send required documents after you apply”. If yours is late, missing or wrong, the routes are in their own section.

What is a Record of Employment, and why does EI need it?

The ROE is a report from your employer to Service Canada, not a letter to you: it lists your employment history, insurable hours and earnings, money paid because the job ended, and a one-letter reason code, all explained under the boxes on your ROE. The record of employment is the main document Service Canada uses to decide whether a person can get EI, how much and for how long; it lists the employee's work history, insurable hours and insurable earnings. Service Canada’s page lists three uses: whether you’re eligible, “what the benefit amount will be” and “for how long the benefits will be paid”. How EI works is on the EI guide.

When you claim, Service Canada says “We need your ROEs for all jobs held in the past year (or since the start of your last claim)”. Your employer has to issue one whether or not you plan to claim: the employer guide says it must be completed “even if the employee does not intend to apply”. ROEs stay on Service Canada’s file for 11 years.

An ROE is for a job in insurable employment: the EI Regulations require one for a person employed “in insurable employment who has an interruption of earnings”. If your employer says you were a contractor, see CPP or EI not deducted, which covers asking the CRA for a ruling, and gig and contract workers’ rights.

When does your employer have to issue your ROE?

The ROE is tied to an interruption of earnings. The employer guide defines one as 7 consecutive calendar days with no work and no insurable earnings from that employer, which applies when you quit, are laid off or your job is ended. For sickness, maternity, parental, compassionate care or family caregiver leave, the interruption of earnings starts in the week the employee's pay falls below 60% of regular weekly earnings. The employer must issue an ROE each time an employee has an interruption of earnings, such as quitting or being laid off, whether or not the employee plans to claim EI, and when Service Canada asks for one. The guide adds that all ROEs must be issued when the employer changes its pay period type, and usually when a business changes ownership.

The date it is due depends on whether your employer files it on paper or electronically, and how often you’re paid:

• If the ROE is on paper, the employer must issue it within 5 calendar days of the first day of the interruption of earnings, or of the day the employer becomes aware of it.
• If the ROE is electronic and pay is weekly, biweekly or semi-monthly, the employer has up to 5 calendar days after the end of the pay period in which the interruption happened.
• If pay is monthly or in 13 pay periods a year, the employer must issue an electronic ROE by the earlier of 5 calendar days after the end of that pay period or 15 calendar days after the first day of the interruption.

Some situations change the timing:

• Salary continuance. If your severance is paid as a salary continuance, the guide says there is no interruption of earnings until it stops, so the employer is told “do not issue an ROE until the end of the salary continuance period”. How severance is paid is on severance pay.
• Part-time, on-call and casual work. A part-time, on-call or casual worker gets an ROE when they ask for one after an interruption of earnings, when they are no longer on the employer's active employment list, when Service Canada asks, or after 30 days with no work and no insurable earnings.
• Service Canada’s request. Service Canada can ask an employer to issue one.

No Service Canada page we read says how long an electronic ROE takes to appear in your account after the employer files it.

How do you see your ROE online, and do you get a paper copy?

How you see your ROE depends on how your employer files it. An electronic ROE goes straight from the employer to Service Canada, through ROE Web or a payroll provider, and the worker does not send a copy. A paper ROE is a three-part form: the worker uploads, mails or drops off Part 1 with the EI application, and Service Canada cannot finish the application until it arrives.

Electronic ROE. Electronic ROEs can be seen and printed in My Service Canada Account under Employment Insurance benefits, then View my records of employment, which also shows details of paper ROEs. Service Canada’s ROE page tells employers they don’t have to give you a paper copy, “since they don’t need it to apply for EI benefits”, and says employees “can view or print copies using My Service Canada Account”.

Paper ROE, and paper copies. With a paper ROE the employer must give the employee Part 1, which the employee uses to apply for EI; Part 2 goes to Service Canada and Part 3 stays with the employer. The Regulations require the employee's copy to be delivered within the paper-ROE deadline, and the employer to mail it if it could not be handed over for reasons beyond its control. With an electronic ROE the employer is not required to print a copy for the employee, although the guide recommends giving one as a courtesy on request. For paper ROEs, the EI checklist says “we cannot finalize your application until we receive them”.

ROE Web is the portal employers use to create and submit ROEs; Service Canada’s page says that if you’re not an employer, “you can access your ROE in My Service Canada Account (MSCA)”.

Can you apply for EI before you have your ROE?

Yes. A worker can apply for EI before the ROE arrives: Service Canada tells applicants to apply as soon as they stop working, and tells employers to pass the same advice on even if the worker has not received every ROE (especially paper ones). An electronic ROE reaches Service Canada directly; missing ROEs can delay processing, and a paper ROE must still be submitted. Service Canada’s application page says “You can send required documents after you apply”, and the employer guide asks employers to tell workers to apply “even if they have not received all their ROEs”.

Waiting has a cost: “If you apply for Employment Insurance (EI) more than 4 weeks after your last day of work, you may lose benefits”. The steps are on how to apply for EI, and asking for a late claim to be backdated is under applying late.

What if your ROE is late, missing or wrong?

An electronic ROE the employer has issued shows under Records of Employment in My Service Canada Account. Service Canada's after-you-apply page says a worker who has asked the employer for the ROE and still has not received it by the employer's deadline can contact Service Canada, and that missing ROEs can delay the processing of an EI claim. When it is due for your pay cycle is covered above. The routes the sources describe, in their order:

1. Applying anyway. Service Canada tells workers to apply for EI as soon as they stop working, and tells employers to pass on that workers should apply even before every ROE has arrived.
2. Your account. An issued electronic ROE appears in My Service Canada Account, where a worker can see whether the employer has filed it.
3. Asking your employer. Service Canada’s help is tied to a request: “If you’ve requested the ROE and it has not been issued within this timeframe, contact us”.
4. Service Canada. Where a worker has asked for the ROE and the employer has not issued it by its deadline, Service Canada's page says to contact it. The EI line is 1-800-206-7218. Service Canada's form INS3166, Request for Record of Employment, is for a worker who asked the last employer for the ROE and still could not get it; it can be mailed or delivered to a local Service Canada Centre. Service Canada can ask the employer to issue or amend an ROE.
5. Paper ROEs. With paper ROEs, the applicant provides Service Canada copies of every ROE issued in the last 52 weeks after applying, and the application cannot be finalized until they arrive.
6. Proof without an ROE. Where an employer has failed to deliver an ROE, the EI Regulations let a claimant provide “a statement containing evidence of the hours and earnings”. Your pay stubs show your hours and pay. If the employer is bankrupt and no ROE was provided, the Regulations have Service Canada work out your insurable hours and earnings from the payroll records the trustee provides.

A wrong ROE. An issued ROE cannot be cancelled or struck out. The employer corrects it by issuing an amended ROE: when information changes or needs correcting, when one was sent in error, or when Service Canada asks for one. The amended ROE fills in every block, not only the ones that changed. If you quit or were dismissed, the EI application asks for the reason for separation in “your version of the facts”. A decision on your claim can be reconsidered if you ask within 30 days after it was communicated to you; see challenging a decision. The employer guide warns that “It is a serious offence to misrepresent the reason for issuing an ROE” and that a knowingly false or misleading reason can lead to “fines or prosecution”.

Other money held back. Final pay or vacation pay held back along with the ROE is a separate claim under employment standards: see my employer hasn’t paid me and vacation pay owed. The ROE is a form under the federal EI Regulations, handled by Service Canada; before you file a complaint notes which provincial offices say they can’t obtain one.

What do the ROE reason codes mean?

Block 16 holds a one-letter code for why the ROE was issued, and the guide says “If you are issuing an ROE for 2 or more reasons, enter the code that applies first in Block 16”.

The code is the employer’s stated reason for issuing the ROE; the EI decision comes from Service Canada’s review of the ROE and your application. For code E, whether you had just cause is on EI if you quit; for code M, see misconduct. For claims that start between October 11, 2026 and October 9, 2027, a temporary measure means only your most recent reason for separation will be reviewed; see temporary EI measures.

For the leave codes, the benefit and your job protection are on separate pages: D, EI sickness benefits and sick leave; F and P, EI maternity and parental benefits and parental leave by province; Z, EI caregiving benefits and caregiver leave; H, Work-Sharing; N, job-protected leaves. A code you think is wrong is covered under late, missing or wrong.

What do the boxes on your ROE show?

These are the parts of the form a worker reads, in the guide’s terms:

Service Canada uses the hours and earnings to decide whether you’re eligible, how much you get and for how long, so figures that don’t match your pay stubs are the kind of error covered under late, missing or wrong. For severance and vacation money on your ROE, see money paid when you leave.

Related pages

• How to apply for EI
• Can you get EI if you quit?
• Can you be denied EI?
• Laid off or fired: the first weeks
• Quitting your job
• My employer hasn’t paid me
• My employer owes me vacation pay
• My employer isn’t paying CPP or EI
• Workplace rights and employee benefits in Canada

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