How to complete the ROE for teachers and other school board employees

Important ROE information

This supplement will help you complete ROEs more accurately by avoiding common errors that lead to telephone calls from Service Canada and to delays in Employment Insurance (EI) payments to your employees. By following these guidelines, you will help Service Canada provide better service to your employees and reduce processing delays.

When to issue an ROE

Service Canada cannot finalize a claim for benefits without an ROE. To avoid delaying benefit payments for your employees, please be sure to issue the ROEs within the following time frames.

Block 10, First day worked

For those employees who are working under a fixed-term contract and/or are not paid on a regular basis, enter the contract start date in Block 10. For regular full-time employees, enter the actual first day they worked, or the first day they worked since you last issued an ROE.

Block 11, Last day for which paid

For those employees who are working under a fixed-term contract and/or are not paid on a regular basis, enter the contract end date in Block 11. For regular full-time employees, enter the actual last day for which they were paid in Block 11. If you pay statutory holiday pay after the final day for which paid, make sure that Block 11 still reflects the actual last day worked or the last day for which the employee was paid (for example, if the employee was on paid vacation, sick leave, or other paid leave). It should not reflect the statutory holiday. In Block 17B, you should enter any statutory holidays that occurred after the date you enter in Block 11.

Block 12, Final pay period ending date

For employees other than teachers, enter the last day of the pay period that contains the date entered in Block 11. For teachers, the date you enter in Block 12 must be the same as the date you enter in Block 11.

Block 14, Expected date of recall (optional)

If you know the expected return-to-work date or the start date of the new contract, you can enter it here. Please do not include comments in Block 18, such as "will return in September" or "new contract effective September 1."

Block 15A, Total insurable hours

For employees other than teachers, enter the total number of insurable hours the employee worked or was paid for during the period of employment. Do not include hours you already reported on a previous ROE. If the employee's departure is not final, include the insurable hours for any paid statutory holiday occurring after the date in Block 11 and reported in Block 17B. If the employee's departure is final, do not include the statutory holiday hours, since in this case only the employee's earnings are insurable.

For teachers, you should report the total number of hours of teaching time and related duties that the collective agreement (or the contract of employment) covers and for which the teacher received remuneration. You should only count teaching days and days of paid leave when you calculate their insurable hours.

Determine the number of teaching days or days of paid leave in the 53-week period before the end of the employment or the end of the contract. Multiply this total number of days by the number of hours per day that the collective agreement covers. If a previous ROE was already issued, or if the teacher's period of employment was shorter than 53 weeks, count only the days in the current period of employment.

Blocks 15B, Total insurable earnings, and 15C, Insurable earnings by pay period

Complete Blocks 15B and 15C as explained in the ROE guide. Be sure to include any insurable earnings you report in Block 17 of the ROE, including the earnings for statutory holidays you report in Block 17B that occur after the date in Block 11.

For teachers, you must use a specific formula to calculate the insurable earnings. In this case, you should record the pay period type in Block 6 as "weekly," and the date in Block 12 must be the same as the last day paid in Block 11.

Visit the Service Canada website for details on the formula to calculate insurable earnings for teachers.

Block 16, Reason for issuing the ROE

Select the appropriate code for issuing this ROE. Since we consider the end of a school year or the end of a contract to be equivalent to a "shortage of work," use "Code A – Shortage of work." Avoid using "Code K – Other," since it should only be used in exceptional circumstances.

Block 17, Payments or benefits other than regular pay

Accumulated sick-leave credits

If accumulated sick-leave credits are paid or payable on any anniversary date, at the end of a fixed-term contract, or on separation, they are insurable. Only those sick-leave credits paid or payable for an anniversary date that falls after the date in Block 11 are to be reported in Block 17C.

Accumulated sick-leave credits are not considered as insurable earnings when they are part of a retiring allowance. To qualify as a retiring allowance, the payment you are making must recognize either long service or when a position is abolished. (For more information on retiring allowances and whether the payments are insurable, contact the Canada Revenue Agency.)

Block 18, Comments

You should only use Block 18 in exceptional circumstances. Do not include comments to simply confirm that the information you entered on the ROE is correct. ROEs that contain comments in Block 18 must be manually reviewed by a Service Canada agent. This review may increase the processing time of an EI claim.

For example, do not report any of the following unnecessary comments, since they will likely result in processing delays:

• "ROE Daily Rate = $123.45" or "Averaging Formula"
• "Summer break," "End of school year," or "End of contract"
• "17A included in Block 15B" or "Vacation pay included in pay period (PP) 1," etc. (in Blocks 15B and 15C PP 1, you must include any insurable earnings you enter in Block 17—there is no need to include a comment to confirm this)

For more information

For details on how to complete the ROE, call the Employer Contact Centre at 1-800-367-5693 (TTY: 1-855-881-9874).