Chapter 4: Need more information?

Enquiries about insurability?
Useful websites
To order ROEs or to speak to an ROE advisor
Annex 1 - Summary chart: Type of earnings, insurable/non-insurable earnings and hours, and pay-period allocation
Annex 2 - Example of a blank paper ROE
Annex 3 - Example of a completed paper ROE
Annex 4 - Example of a completed electronic ROE
Annex 5 - Example of an ROE for self-employed fishers

Enquiries about insurability?

If you have questions about the insurability of earnings or hours, you should contact the Canada Revenue Agency.

By telephone: You can call the Canada Revenue Agency at 1-800-959-5525.

On the Internet: Visit Canada Revenue Agency website.

For more information on EI premiums, see the following Canada Revenue Agency publications:

T4001, Employer's Guide – Payroll Deductions and Remittances (Chapter 3 of the guide contains details on insurable employment, earnings, and hours, and on calculating EI premiums)
T4130, Employer's Guide – Taxable Benefits
RC4110, Employee or Self-Employed?

For copies of these publications, contact your local tax services office or visit the Canada Revenue Agency website.

Useful websites

Employment Insurance for employers

For employer information about the Employment Insurance program.

ROE Web

For information on ROE Web.

Work-Sharing Program

The Work-Sharing Program enables employers to deal with business cutbacks and still avoid laying off employees. Under a work-sharing agreement, employers can shorten their employees' work week by one to three days and pay those employees reduced wages. For the hours, days, or shifts that employees do not work, Service Canada arranges for those employees who are eligible for Employment Insurance to receive benefits, which helps compensate for the lower wages they receive from the employer.

Report on Hirings Program

Because Service Canada is responsible for protecting the integrity of the EI program, we have designed the Report on Hirings (ROH) program. The ROH program helps us make sure that only eligible individuals receive EI benefits.

Automated Earnings Reporting System

The Automated Earnings Reporting System (AERS) is a voluntary verification program that protects the Employment Insurance program and reduces administrative costs for employers. Through AERS, employers electronically submit payroll information to Service Canada.

Request for Payroll Information

Some employers are asked to complete the Service Canada Request for Payroll Information forms.

The Canada Revenue Agency's My Business Account

See the Canada Revenue Agency website for more information about the My Business Account online service.

General Government of Canada enquiries

Visit the Canada.ca website.

To order ROEs or to speak to an ROE advisor

For more information on how to complete the ROE, or to order paper copies of the ROE form, call the Employer Contact Centre at 1-800-367-5693 (TTY: 1-855-881-9874).

Please note that we no longer accept orders for paper ROE forms by fax.

Annex 1 - Summary chart: Type of earnings, insurable/non-insurable earnings and hours, and pay-period allocation

This chart lists the different types of earnings employees can receive, indicates whether or not the earnings and the hours are insurable, and, if they are insurable, to which pay period you should allocate them.

To make this summary chart easier to use, we have put its contents in alphabetical order.

Note

If you have questions about the insurability of earnings or hours, contact the Canada Revenue Agency. You can visit the Canada Revenue Agency website, or contact the Agency by telephone at 1-800-959-5525.

Summary chart of insurable earnings and hours

Type of earnings	Insurable?		Allocate to pay period
Type of earnings	Earnings	Hours	For which they are paid ^{Footnote 1}	In which they are paid ^{Footnote 2}	Last pay period of regular wages ^{Footnote 3}
Automobile stand-by charge	No	No
Automobile operating expense benefit	No	No
Bonus, all types	Yes	No		Yes
Bonus, if paid because of the separation	Yes	No			Yes
Commissions, regular/irregular	Yes	Yes ^{Footnote 4}	Yes
Cost-of-living allowance	Yes	No		Yes
Cost-of-living allowance, if paid on separation	Yes	No			Yes
Gratuities (also called tips) that are controlled by the employer	Yes	No		Yes
Gratuities (also called tips) that are controlled by the employer, if paid on separation	Yes	No			Yes
Group term life insurance	No	No
Incentive payment	Yes	No		Yes
Incentive payment, if paid on separation	Yes	No			Yes
Non-taxable allowance ^{Footnote 5}	No	No
Overtime, worked and paid ^{Footnote 6}	Yes	Yes		Yes
Overtime, worked and taken as leave ^{Footnote 7}	Yes	Yes	Yes
Overtime, accumulated and paid on or after separation: hours ^{Footnote 8} earnings ^{Footnote 9}	Yes	Yes	Yes (hours)		Yes (earnings)
Pay adjustments ^{Footnote 10}	Yes	No		Yes
Pay adjustments, paid on separation (see Footnote 10	Yes	No			Yes
Pay corrections ^{Footnote 11}	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pay in lieu of notice, paid on or after separation	Yes	No			Yes
Retirement leave credits/retiring allowance, including severance pay, accumulated sick leave credits paid as part of a retiring allowance on separation ^{Footnote 12}	No	No
Room and board benefit or allowance, with insurable earnings in the same pay period	Yes	No	Yes
Room and board benefit or allowance, without insurable earnings in the same pay period	No	No
RRSP contribution paid by the employer to a non-restricted RRSP	Yes	No		Yes
RRSP contribution paid by the employer to a restricted RRSP	No	No
Salary and wages, including unpaid wages due to bankruptcy, receivership, or impending receivership	Yes	Yes	Yes
Salary continuance	Yes	Yes	Yes
Shift premium	Yes	No		Yes
Shift premium, if paid because of the separation	Yes	No			Yes
Sick leave taken, paid by employer	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sick leave credits, accumulated and paid out, on anniversary date or not, and taxable as employment income (if paid on termination as part of retirement leave credits/retiring allowance, see "Retirement leave credits/retiring allowance")	Yes	No		Yes
Stand-by hours, spent at the employee's place of work at the employer's request, paid at any rate	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stand-by hours, spent elsewhere than the employee's place of work, paid at a rate equivalent to or more than the employee's regular rate	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stand-by hours, spent elsewhere than the employee's place of work, paid at a rate less than the employee's regular rate	Yes	No	Yes
Statutory holiday pay, occurring after the last day worked, when the employee's departure is final	Yes	No			Yes
Statutory holiday pay, occurring after the last day worked, when the employee's departure is not final	Yes	Yes			Yes
Statutory holiday pay, taken on the day itself, any day recognized instead of the statutory day, or any other day off with pay in place of the statutory day	Yes	Yes ^{Footnote 13}	Yes
Supplementary Unemployment Benefits (SUB) plan benefits (made under a plan that is registered with Service Canada)	No	No ^{Footnote 14}
Taxable allowance (for example, taxable car allowance of $400 per month)	Yes	No		Yes
Taxable benefit, monetary	Yes	No		Yes
Taxable benefit, most non-monetary	No	No
Tips (also called gratuities) that are controlled by the employer	Yes	No		Yes
Tips (also called gratuities) that are controlled by the employer, if paid on separation	Yes	No			Yes
Top-ups to maternity, parental, and compassionate care benefits, paid by the employer	No	No
Vacation pay, paid on separation	Yes	No			Yes
Vacation pay, where no vacation time is taken, however paid	Yes	No		Yes
Vacation pay, where vacation time is taken, however paid	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wage-loss insurance (insurable), paid by the employer	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wage-loss insurance top-up, paid by the employer, claim accepted	No	No
Wage-loss insurance top-up, paid by the employer, prior to acceptance	Yes	No		Yes
Workers Compensation Benefits top-up, paid by the employer, claim accepted	No	No
Workers Compensation Benefits top-up, paid by the employer, prior to acceptance	Yes	No		Yes

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Allocate the earnings you pay to an employee to the pay period for which the employee earned them. In the case of leave taken, allocate the earnings to the period of leave.

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Footnote 2

Allocate the earnings to the pay period in which you paid them.

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Footnote 3

Allocate the earnings to the last pay period during which you paid the employee a regular salary, wages, or commissions.

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Footnote 4

When the actual hours of work are not known for employees paid by commission, or when the worker and the employer have not agreed on what hours would be considered for insurability, the hours of work are determined by dividing the insurable earnings in the last 52 calendar weeks, or fewer depending on the period, by the applicable minimum wage for the province or territory where the employee is working that is in force on January 1 in the year(s) the earnings were payable. When this period overlaps two calendar years, you must perform two calculations using the minimum wage in force each year, if different. The maximum number of hours you can allocate is 35 hours per week.

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Footnote 5

Most non-taxable earnings are not insurable (for example, travel allowances). For more information, contact the Canada Revenue Agency.

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Footnote 6

When an employee works overtime and is paid for it, the hours are insurable. Include the actual number of hours the employee worked, regardless of the rate at which the hours are paid.

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Footnote 7

When an employee takes overtime as leave, the insurable hours are the number of hours the employee takes in leave.

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Footnote 8

When an employee accumulates overtime hours and you pay for those hours on separation or afterward, make sure to include the hours in the actual period when the employee worked the overtime. For reporting purposes, if the employee worked the overtime during the previous 52 weeks (or since the last ROE was issued, if the period is shorter than 52 weeks), you will add the number of overtime hours worked to the total insured hours reported in Block 15A. If the employee worked the overtime before this period, do not report it. On occasion, a Service Canada representative may need to contact you to verify when the employee worked the overtime. This will only be the case when an employee does not qualify for EI benefits based on what is reported, and knowing what period the overtime represents may result in the employee qualifying for benefits.

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Footnote 9

When the employee accumulates overtime and you pay it on separation or afterward, make sure to include the insurable earnings in the last pay period of regular pay.

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Footnote 10

Pay adjustments occur when there has been a delay in recognizing, implementing, or processing a change in the employee's pay (for example, an increase in wages under a union contract, agreed to three months after the end of the previous contract, gives rise to a retroactive pay increase or adjustment).

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Footnote 11

Pay corrections involve errors. This may involve hours missed when a previous pay period was processed, or the back wages paid to an employee who was wrongfully dismissed.

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Footnote 12

For more information on retiring allowances, contact the Canada Revenue Agency.

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Footnote 13

When an employee works on a statutory holiday, insurable hours are the greater of the hours actually worked or the otherwise normal hours of work. For example, when an employee who usually works 7.5 hours in a working day is paid four hours of overtime on a statutory holiday, 7.5 hours are insurable. If the employee worked 10 hours on that holiday, 10 hours would be insurable.

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Footnote 14

If the SUB plan is not registered with Service Canada, the SUB payments are considered insurable. For information on registering SUB plans, please see the SUB Program Guide.

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